The Flames of Paradise
by NinjaMagik
Summary: Esuma is just an ordinary cheerleader, until the cute new Gym teacher turns out to be an escaped criminal and a secret agent shows up to bring him in. SE/OC, SS/OC. ** Epilogue now up, all secrets revealed! **
1. Chapter 1: Beginnings

A/N: Hi! I'm really letting my creative juices flow freely on this story. Please, PLEASE tell me what you think, because I really want to know what you all think of this story as it unfolds! Think of it as an experiment, and I'm here holding the beaker and wondering if it's going to blow up.

1

"Esuma!" Marie called out, running out to catch her best friend. "Did you see him yet?"

Esuma shrugged but smiled indulgently.

"Mr. Nakamura? Yes, I did." She said, her tone implying she felt there was absolutely no cause for excitement.

Marie giggled. Esuma was being her usual self: nothing could faze the girl, not even the cutest gym teacher the school had ever seen. She waved in greeting to Lily, who was just trotting their way.

Lily stopped by them, panting a bit but grinning.

"Did'ya see him?" She asked. "How is he? Is he really that cute? How old is he? What's he wearing?"

Esuma tilted her head, smiling affectionately.

"How can you talk so much on so little breath?" She asked. "Yes, I saw him. I don't know why it matters so much," she said, the smallest twinkle in her purple eyes, "but yes, he's very handsome."

"Is he old?" Lily asked again. "Like, really old?"

"What's he wearing?" Marie asked as well.

"How were Cassy and Diane during the class?"

Esuma chuckled.

"They were all over him." She said. "And so were the other girls. There was a lot of calling the name of the Lord in vain going on, all in expressions of wonderment at how perfectly good looking he was. They figure he's about thirty, and they felt his all white track suit looked very nice on him… especially the tight t-shirt."

Marie and Lily went wide eyed at the description of the teacher's apparel.

"I can't wait for this afternoon…" Lily sighed. "I hope he's still wearing the same thing… you're so lucky, Esuma, you get to see him twice today."

"You'll see him as many times a week as I will, silly." Esuma chuckled in reply.

"But you're the only one who has gym on the same day as cheerleading practice." Marie pouted. "You get a dream day once a week!"

"I think I'd rather see him on three different days." Lily interfered. "Three different outfits, you know? Plus, I don't have to wait as long between each time."

Marie considered that for a minute, and then did a little shrug.

"I guess so." She sighed. "I wonder what his first name is? Did he say, Esuma?"

"Asanuma." Esuma said.

Lily smiled dreamily.

"Asanuma Nakamura… that even rhymes…"

"No it doesn't." Marie giggled. "But it IS nice."

Esuma did not reply. She was not immune to the charm of the gym teacher herself, but she was quite intent on not letting herself act on it or even admit to it. She knew from experience that love only leads to pain when loved ones are lost. As loving as the man who had adopted her and that she thought of as another father was, as the general in charge of an elite branch of the military, he was rarely available and generally unable to make her forget the loss of her biological parents. She couldn't stand the thought of feeling this kind of pain ever again... it was bad enough that she had not been able to prevent herself from getting attached to Marie and Lily, and that she consequently worried about them on a nearly continuous basis, she didn't think she could handle falling in love.

Lily and Marie continued chatting about the new gym teacher through lunch, and try as she might, Esuma could not quite make herself mind all that much.

2

Storm Shadow sighed and sat down in the small office adjoining the gym, glancing at the clock dejectedly. He still had to go through cheerleading practice today before he could finally escape for the evening… it had only been one day, and he already wondered whether he hadn't been better off drifting in the frigid waters of the Artic.

He had taken the Gym Teacher position in this High School without much reflection; it was a pretty good cover and he was pretty certain he could get by on minimal work for a good while before the school got tired enough of him to chuck him out and look for a new teacher again. With any luck at all, this position would see to all his needs until he located McCullen and broke him out.

He hadn't counted on something that, in hindsight, he really should have expected: teenage girls.

He shuddered at the mere thought. There had been a time where love was all he had ever wanted, but that time was long past.

3

Japan, 25 years ago

"Tomisaburo." The voice was harsh, and the name was said with a hint of sarcasm that was not lost on the boy and that clearly indicated there was nothing cherished about this third son.

The boy being thus addressed quickly finished his prayer at the altar he had made for his father and turned to his uncle. He bowed and did his best to relax his eyebrows and hide his irritation at being interrupted.

"Have we not agreed that one minute a day fulfilled your obligations to your father?" The Hard Master asked.

Tomisaburo bowed deeper, hoping the angle would hide his snarl. The kick to his face that sent him into the altar, causing the picture of his father and the forget-me-not flower to crash to the ground, breaking both the frame and the small vase, proved his uncle had either seen the snarl or guessed it was there.

Tomisaburo's eyes widened as he looked at the mess. He turned to his uncle, scowling. He was picked up by his collar and slammed into the wall.

"Don't you dare look at me like this, you insolent child." The Hard Master said. "Just like your father to die and leave my brother and me to deal with YOU. You're only five, and one can already tell there is nothing in your heart but aimless anger. There is too much fire in you."

Tomisaburo opened his mouth to protest, but he was slammed into the wall again. He heard a crunching noise as the Hard Master's wooden sandal crushed what was left of the frame that still contained his father's picture.

"You will listen." The Hard Master said. "It appears I need to explain your situation to you once again. For starters, you will apologize for your rudeness."

Tomisaburo's face reddened: there was no question in his mind that if his uncle, a grown up who was now responsible for him, said he had been rude, he must have been. He had no idea, however, what it was he had done that was rude; he had even been thinking it was the other way around, that his uncle was not bothering with manners – he had even been angry.

"I'm sorry." He said sincerely. "I didn't mean to be rude."

The Hard Master was mollified enough to nod rather than to slam his nephew into the wall again.

"Your mother became ill caring for you. Do you remember this fact?"

Tomisaburo looked down and nodded. He had only vague memories of his illness, but his uncles had explained on numerous occasions that his mother had caught the dangerous virus and that, unlike him, she had not recovered.

"Your father and yourself have been nothing but a burden ever since. By his death, he at least removed himself, but he left you behind, for us to deal with."

The Hard Master's upper lip was curled in distaste. His eyes narrowed to slits as he slammed his nephew into the wall again before releasing him.

"I am obliged to grant you shelter, food and training because your mother was my sister." He snarled, glaring at the boy who had scrambled up to his knees. "If you wish for more than that, if you wish for me to actually see you as a full member of this family rather than as the orphan inflicted on us that you are, I suggest you stop ignoring my orders and start behaving. You may yet succeed at washing all traces of your father from your spirit if not from your body… if you do that, if you convince me that you are worthy of your mother and nothing like your father, I will no longer bear any hatred towards you."

Tomisaburo gulped.

"Thank you, Hard Master." He said. "I will try."

"You will start by cleaning up this mess. You may rebuild a simpler altar, but there is no need for a frame or for fresh flowers. You have until supper time to complete this task: I will not tolerate any waste of time.

Tomisaburo's eyes widened: it was about supper time now. He expected the bell announcing the meal was served to ring any second.

"Thank you, Hard Master." He said, bowing deeper and dearly hoping his uncle would be satisfied and leave.

The Hard Master nodded and walked out of the room. Tomisaburo scrambled to balance the shelf back on its holders, took the slightly rumpled picture out of the broken frame and leaned it upright against the wall, laid the flower next to it and hurried to clean up the broken frame and vase. He was just finishing toweling off the water from the vase when the dinner bell rang. He tossed the towel in his laundry basket, glanced at his simplistic altar and gave it a quick bow, then trotted off to dinner: he didn't want to be the last one there; he'd be punished if he were.

4

Storm Shadow wiped his eyes hurriedly with clenched fists. He barely remembered his mother, but he missed his father, and he missed the time where he thought he had a chance of winning the rest of his family's affection. He forced his mind back to the present just in time for the first few girls to saunter into the gym. Among them was Miss Esuma Yr, that white haired one from earlier in the day, the one that moved a bit like a cat – figured she was a cheerleader.

He came out of the office and nodded at the small group: there were still only five girls here.

"Is that all of you?" He asked.

"Yes, Mr. Nakamura!" One of them, a skinny red head, answered.

He almost blinked at the name: he still wasn't quite used to hearing it in reference to himself, but Arashikage was out of the question. Snake Eyes and the rest of GI Joe were probably looking for him, hunting him, making the borrowed name a necessity, even though he hated hiding who he was. The rest of his family may have dirtied the name in the past generation, but burying it was no way to bring honor back to it.

"Five. You're a cheerleader squad of _five_."

"Yes, Mr. Nakamura." Another girl answered, a chubby blonde who certainly did not match the cheerleader stereotype.

Storm Shadow sighed at the pointlessness of it all but started them up on a warm up run anyway. Perfect. This was just perfect. He had to hide like some low-life criminal, the one man who could make the World right again was gone, imprisoned who knew where, and his new mission his life was to train a cheerleader squad who wasn't even large enough to make a proper pyramid.

His eyes caught the Yr girl as she ran past, well ahead of her companions. She certainly was swift... good ninja material. He told himself that had to be the only reason he was looking at her and that it had nothing to do with the fact the cheerleader uniform looked particularly good on her.


	2. Chapter 2: Ninjas

A/N: thank you SO much to everyone who reviewed!

Asterix78 and LinuxGirl, you don't need to worry. There's actually a very good reason why Esuma has a different eye color. Also, nobody's in love with anybody yet – the relationships will be explained as they start shaping up.

Thanks again for reviewing!

By the way, it wasn't clear in the last chapter, but at the end, yep, that's Esuma Storm Shadow is looking at.

A/N #2: Text between /* and */ is sign language. Like this: /* Hello. */

* * *

1

Snake Eyes sulked out of the shooting range and deposited the light gun on the table, resisting the childish urge to slam it down.

"19." Scarlett announced, refraining from congratulating her friend or expressing sympathy. She knew the ninja had no use for it and that it would only serve to irritate him more.

Snake Eyes's fists clenched briefly.

"Ah, don't worry about it, big guy!" Ripcord exclaimed genially. "Even I can't get 20 on this thing!"

Saying so, he patted the other man on the shoulder, or more precisely, he tried: his hand never reached its target, being sent a few feet away along with the rest of his body. Ripcord crash-landed on his back and lost his smile, glaring at Snake Eyes.

"What gives?!" He asked indignantly. "You wanna fight? Come here and…"

"No, he doesn't." Scarlett said decisively, grabbing Snake Eyes's arm. "You just startled him. Honestly, Rip, don't you know better by now than trying to touch a ninja who's not expecting it?"

/* I also know better than to maul a team mate. */ Snake Eyes signed shortly, jerking his arm out of her grasp.

"Man, you're wound up." Ripcord said, scrambling up. "What's the matter, anyway?"

Snake Eyes sighed. _Ripcord_, of all people, just had to be the one to ask.

/* Just mind your own business. */

Ripcord looked straight at Scarlett, waiting for a translation. Snake Eyes stalked out without waiting, his hands twitching with the burning, if illogical, desire to wrap themselves around Ripcord's neck: it wouldn't bring Tommy back, and although it would make Scarlett single again, she'd never forgive him.

Ripcord cocked his head and looked questioningly at the door the ninja slammed on his way out before turning to Scarlett.

"What was that about?" He asked. "I'd think he's jealous if you hadn't explained he was like a big brother."

"Just leave it, Rip." Scarlett sighed. "He told you to mind your own business."

She respected her friend's privacy too much to share what she knew, even with Ripcord, but to her, Snake Eyes' terrible mood over the past couple of weeks was easily explained by what had gone down with Storm Shadow. Although he had been an enemy for years, Snake Eyes had known Storm Shadow since the two had been mere boys, the one having trained with the other's family.

They had practically been raised as brothers, and she knew Snake Eyes had been heartbroken when his sparring partner had apparently murdered their master, his own uncle, at the tender age of 11. Although Snake Eyes had never actually admitted to it, Scarlett suspected his vow of silence was somehow linked to Storm Shadow as much as to the Hard Master's death.

Snake Eyes had known for years that eventually, he'd have to kill Storm Shadow. There was no other way to stop the other man, and there was no question that he had to be stopped. Actually going through with it was an entirely different thing than the cold logic that dictated it was necessary, however.

The fact that Scarlett knew about part of the reasons behind Snake Eyes' irritability and isolationist tendencies as of late left her completely unsuspecting that there was more to it than what she was aware of.

For instance, she had no idea that by starting to date Ripcord, she had broken the heart of the man she thought of as the dearest of friends – how could she have known? She did not suspect, even now, that Snake Eyes had had deeper feelings for her.

She also did not know about Storm Shadow's last words.

* * *

2

M.A.R.S. Fortress, under the ice cap, 2 weeks earlier

"You made a vow of silence when our Master died." Storm Shadow sneered. "And now, you will die without saying a word!"

Snake Eyes clenched his jaw. He hated this. He hated where this was going, and not because he was afraid his brother's taunt would come true, quite the contrary. Storm Shadow had gotten exactly one hit on him, a flesh wound on his arm, but had taken several deep slashes himself… the trash talking was just empty words: this fight was already decided, all that was left was to play it out until Snake Eyes found himself murdering his brother and thus avenging their Master.

* * *

2.5

Japan, 19 years ago

He felt a hand on his shoulder just as he was starting to run after Tommy, screaming like the others, in shock at the very idea that his sword brother had done the unthinkable, had killed their Master, his own uncle. He turned towards the person who had thus stopped him, eyes wide and teeth showing in a savage snarl that died once he saw who he was facing.

"Let the others catch him." The Soft Master said, his expression unreadable. "You need to be by your Master's side."

Snake Eyes nodded and ran to his Master, his heart beating hard and fast, as if to make up for the fact the older man's heart would never beat again.

He kneeled down next to the prone form, who had been straightened and laid on its back. The Hard Master's eyes were closed, his expression peaceful; Snake Eyes wondered whether his face had been rearranged into a dignified position, like his body, and he shook his head to get rid of the irrelevant and irreverent thoughts.

"Master…" He whispered hoarsely.

"As his number one apprentice, it is your duty to avenge him." The Soft Master said from the other side of the body. "You would have been expected to protect him."

"I'm sorry." Snake Eyes croaked.

The Soft Master snorted.

"Your being sorry does him no good whatsoever right now. How did you fail to notice Tommy's intentions? You spend most of your days with him… did he not say anything?"

Snake Eyes felt his mouth twist into a sob and found his eyes filling with tears. The Soft Master was right, he should have seen it coming, he should have realized Tommy was thinking of this. He should have paid more attention… maybe Tommy had given clues, and he had missed them entirely just by not listening well enough.

"I'm sorry." He repeated, addressing his Master's corpse. "I vow to you, until I have avenged you, I will be silent so that I may hear better – may it allow me to track your murderer."

The Soft Master's eyes widened briefly.

"I appreciate your devotion to my dear departed brother, Snake Eyes," he said. "But do you really mean that? Will you take a true oath?"

Snake Eyes nodded firmly, already abiding by his vow despite not having performed the Arashikage Oath Ceremony yet.

* * *

2 (continued)

M.A.R.S. Fortress, under the ice cap, 19 years later

Snake Eyes gripped his sword a bit tighter. He felt rather disgusted at himself for it, but he couldn't deny that a small part of him was looking forward to the end, to fulfilling his obligation and being relieved of his vow.

The bigger part of him knew that he'd spend the rest of his life having nightmares about killing his former comrade, the boy he still thought of as his brother. He knew it was the right thing to do, as much for the sake of the World as for that of their Master, but the fact it was right, and even necessary, did not make it easy.

He blocked the double sword with his own blade and instinctively seizing an opening, ran Storm Shadow through with his other blade. Their eyes widened at the same time. Storm Shadow staggered back, looking incredulous.

* * *

2.5 (continued)

Japan, 19 years ago

"Congratulations, Snake Eyes!" The Hard Master smiled. "Top of the class!"

Snake Eyes beamed up at him, soaking up the praise, the acceptance… in essence, soaking up the fact he had a found acceptance, love… a home. From the corner of his eyes, he noticed Tommy snarling and run off, obviously jealous and upset he'd been defeated, for once.

At lunch time, Tommy was sitting by himself and looking murderous. Snake Eyes, himself in a wonderful mood, couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for the boy who would no longer be able to bully him around and went to sit with him. He was treated to such a glare that he was about to get right back up when the glare melted and Tommy's eyes widened in… was that fear? Snake Eyes looked behind him to find the Hard Master had appeared out of nowhere and was looking at his nephew with what could best be described as disgust.

"Tomisaburo, is this how you greet your brother and your better? Apologize immediately."

Tommy pushed his chair back, jumped to his feet and bowed deeply.

"I'm sorry, brother. Please forgive my unjust anger."

Snake Eyes nodded; this wasn't exactly the first time Tommy was made to apologize to him. In fact, it was pretty much a daily occurrence. His sword brother had seemed a bit more eager than usual, however. He found out why when on a signal from the Hard Master, the bus boy took Tommy's plate away. A second signal sent Tommy away, presumably to his room or to some pre-agreed chore.

The following weeks had been wonderful for Snake Eyes. As top of his class, he had earned the respect of most of the clan and try as he might, Tommy had not won another fight, much to the delight of the Hard Master. Tommy's mood had sunk a bit more every day, and although he remained exceedingly polite to him, his eyes always betrayed a mix of envy and resentment that Snake Eyes felt was the boy's just reward for beating on him as much as he could for as long as he could.

* * *

2 (continued)

M.A.R.S. Fortress, under the ice cap, 19 years later

The adult Snake Eyes had long since lost the innocence that had hid from him what was really going on in his new home. Being denied a meal for being in a bad mood, despite the fact Tommy had not so much as uttered a word was already a bit extreme, but the fact Tommy had expected it revealed he suffered this particular type of discipline on a regular basis… for most children, a skipped meal was not that big of a deal, but for a ninja in training, food was vital fuel, and the punishment was downright cruel.

Over the years spent replaying the few weeks preceding the Hard Master's death, Snake Eyes had come to realize that this one instance of discipline he had witnessed was nothing but the tip of the iceberg: countless incidents that his young self had barely noticed revealed that his sword brother had been hated with a passion by both his uncles, and that they made no secret about it; that the boy who had grown to be Storm Shadow had tried his whole childhood to be the absolute best in a desperate effort to gain his family's love; that he was routinely nearly starved, beaten, and presented to all new students in a negative light to avoid his making any friends.

In short, the terror of Snake Eyes' early day within the Arashikage dojo had been a textbook case of an abused child trying to defend what little chance he had at happiness against the intruder and rival Snake Eyes had been. When the glimmer of hope he had held of becoming the best ninja in the clan and so gain his family's love and respect had vanished by way of Snake Eyes surpassing him, Tommy had fallen into despair and once he had given up on his uncle's feelings for him ever changing, he had eventually lashed out against his tormentor, quite possibly in self defense during yet another beating.

Snake Eyes had already been hunting him for years by the time he had come to these realizations, and by then, Storm Shadow had committed so many crimes that he needed to be stopped regardless of what had really been going on when he had murdered his first victim. Just the same, Snake Eyes had to live with the fact that he had helped push his sword brother into the life he had led, for a 'crime' that no jury in the World would have condemned him for.

Snake Eyes kept his eyes on Storm Shadow as he continued to stagger. They locked eyes and Storm Shadow, with no trace of the smirk he usually had when he sarcastically called him brother, spoke his last words.

"Brother," he muttered. "It was not I who killed our Master."

He fell over the edge of the platform then. Snake Eyes leaped towards him, but was a split second too late to catch him and could only watch him drift away. He wanted to scream, but if Storm Shadow had not killed the Hard Master, Snake Eyes' vow was still in effect and would be until he found and killed the real murderer.

It was somewhat ironic that although he had barely landed one hit on him during their fight, Storm Shadow had managed a blow straight to his rival's heart with his dying breath.

* * *

3

The Pit, two weeks later (Present Days)

To anybody reading his public file, the man who picked up the phone was General Clayton Abernathy, assignment classified. To the men under his command, he was General Hawk when they felt like being formal, Sir when they felt like being formal and concise, and simply Hawk the rest of the time. To the person calling, however, he was known by his favorite title: "Daddy".

"Hi Daddy."

Hawk's brow furrowed in worry: he knew that tone all too well.

"You're having a headache again, aren't you?" He asked softly.

"Yeah." Esuma sighed. "Marie's mom is going to drive me back home, I just wanted to let you know I'd be hiding in my room with all the lights shut off."

"You have your key?" Hawk asked. He automatically rolled his eyes at himself: Esuma was home alone every afternoon and he couldn't remember a single time that she had forgotten her keys.

Esuma chuckled weakly. "Yes, Daddy. I have my key. I'm 16, remember? Not 6."

"Sixteen?!" Hawk replied in mock surprise. "When did THAT happen?"

She laughed again, but stopped with a wince. Although he could not see her, Hawk knew she had her eyes closed and was massaging her forehead – his adopted daughter in pain was an altogether too familiar sight.

"Are you having the flashes, too?" He asked, serious again.

"Just that purple light." She replied. "I'll be fine, Daddy, don't worry."

Hawk held back a sigh. The headaches were bad enough, but several specialists had at least agreed they were not dangerous. The flashes, however, those sounds and sights that sometimes accompanied the headaches, worried every Doctor they had seen. Said Doctors were never exactly sure what the flashes signaled, but they all agreed that they couldn't mean anything good. Hawk, more for his own benefit than his daughter, fished around for another subject and remembered Esuma would have had cheerleading practice that afternoon.

"Alright." He said in response to her request not to worry. "So, who's doing the gym this week? All the teachers must have had a turn by now."

"We finally got a new teacher." Esuma replied. "Mr. Nakamura. I better go, Daddy, I don't want to keep Marie's mom waiting. I'll see you tonight."

"Alright. Love you."

"Love you too!"

She hung up about one second before the piece of news she had given Hawk fully registered: the school had found a new gym teacher, when they hadn't even had a decent candidate the week before. He didn't get the luxury to think about it further, however: his new aide-de-camp knocked and called out to him that Snake Eyes was there with their guest.

* * *

4

Hawk composed himself before he invited the two ninjas to come in. Their 'guest', as his aide-de-camp had put it, was, from what he understood, Storm Shadow's uncle. Snake Eyes had assured him that the man knew his nephew was a hardened criminal and would not be questioning the need for his death, but had been unable to explain why the man insisted on seeing Hawk so much.

Hawk had to make an effort to remain impassive when Snake Eyes came in with a short, slightly obese, balding man who looked like he could be just about anything EXCEPT a deadly martial artist. Hawk stretched his hand in greeting, but the man ignored it and gave a curt bow, which Hawk settled for duplicating.

"General Hawk." The man started before Hawk was even upright again. "I need to know whether my nephew's body has been recovered yet."

Hawk frowned, hesitant to answer. The information was classified. The man's eyes narrowed.

"Since there would be no need to hide the fact if it had, I assume by your reluctance to answer that it hasn't."

He shook his head dejectedly and turned to Snake Eyes.

"He's alive." He said. "Surely you realize that. Will you complete your mission, Snake Eyes? Will you find him and finally bring him to justice?"

Snake Eyes hesitated.

"If it turns out that Storm Shadow is indeed alive, Mr. Arashikage," Hawk replied, "Snake Eyes will capture him if he is ordered to by his commanding officer: me."

The man snorted.

"He is alive." He stated. "Well, Snake Eyes. Will you or will you not honor your word? Will you avenge your Master and stop your brother from further soiling our name?"

/* It wasn't him. */ Snake Eyes signed. /* He told me himself, with what I thought was his dying breath, that he did not kill the Hard Master. */

The Soft Master scowled and barked a laugh.

"And you believed him?" He mocked. "He lied to you to perturb you. He must have thought, like you, that this was the end, and he hurt you the only way he could, by denying you the satisfaction of knowing you had avenged your Master."

Snake Eyes lifted his hands to reply but no answer came. The Soft Master was right: it was entirely possible, even likely, that Storm Shadow had simply lied.

"Will you keep your word?" The Soft Master asked again.

"He will follow his orders." Hawk interfered. "Rest assured, Mr. Arashikage, that I don't want Storm Shadow running around any more than you do, but you must understand that Snake Eyes is a valuable member of my team and as such, he is under MY command, not yours."

The Soft Master narrowed his eyes at him, but after a last look at Snake Eyes, bowed and walked out.


	3. Chapter 3: Playing Hero

A/N:

Thanks again to everyone who reviewed! Reviews make authors happy. :D

I'm sorry some of you found the flashbacks confusing: I labeled the first bit that's back into the present, I hope that helps.

1

Storm Shadow whistled the end of the Volleyball practice feeling just a bit better about the team and its prospects than at the start of the hour. They were just as hopeless as the other teams he was coaching, but as was the case for the others, he was confident he could improve them, and he was already enjoying the challenge he had issued to himself of getting every last one of them at state champion level. They were already making progress, too. Today, for instance, most of the Volleyball players had managed to learn to dive without hurting themselves and were now confident enough to do it for fun. It was definitely a start, even though they were still nowhere near actually being able to make the dives useful by sending the ball back up in the air.

The boys headed for the change room, chattering about various things. Storm Shadow followed: as the teacher, Mr. Nakamura was expected to keep a loose watch on the boys while they were in the change room, just to make sure a fight didn't break out or the high energy teenagers didn't suddenly get some bad ideas. He settled in a chair by the door with a book, paying just enough attention to detect it if the kids started screaming, until the conversation veered towards his cat-like white haired cheerleader and potential student, Esuma.

"What's the name of her dragonfly again?"

"That thing's weird. Do you think it's always the same one? Do they live that long?"

Storm Shadow knew what they were talking about: a dragonfly always appeared near Esuma towards the end of the afternoon, and stayed near her from there on out. He assumed Esuma's shampoo or soap attracted the things, but he was aware that Esuma and her friends treated the insects as though they were always the same individual, and even had a name for it… not that he could remember it.

"Esuma calls it Racno. I think they die after like, one day."

"Still cute she names them, though."

Storm Shadow lost interest when the boys started just being boys and trying to guess her bra size. He started paying attention again when one of the older boys started getting a bit too explicit, detailing in far too many details what he'd like to do to her. He scowled at him and the boy immediately stopped talking.

"Aren't you eighteen?" Storm Shadow asked.

"Yes, Mr. Nakamura."

"She's _sixteen_."

"That's only two years less than me." The boy answered, rolling his eyes.

"I will not put up with would-be sexual predators on my team. If I ever hear you talk like this again about ANY young girl, you're out. This goes for all eighteen year olds here. Do I make myself clear?"

There were a few protests. Storm Shadow resisted the urge to reach for his back to draw a sword that wasn't there anyway and crossed his arms instead. He could hardly believe the nerve of these kids… he was their _teacher._ The proper response to a lecture from him was for them to drop on the floor and beg for forgiveness, not to protest.

"I might extend that to anyone who complains about a perfectly reasonable rule. Are we clear?"

They got the hint: there were no protests this time, just a chorus of mumbled "Yes, Mr Nakamura".

From there, the conversation veered to a rather nasty planned prank on one of the other cheerleaders: the chubby blonde called Lily. Once again, Storm Shadow was too angry to stay silent.

"Miss Duncan is one of your five cheerleaders." He growled. "She spends time and energy encouraging you and the other sports teams while you're playing. You will not prank her."

As he said it, he gave them such a glare that a few of them gulped. There was another chorus of "Yes, Mr Nakamura" and the boys, finally ready, filed out of the change room to go eat their lunch before they went to their afternoon class.

2

Storm Shadow sat down with his lunch with the other teachers, and took a long, delightful sip of his mocha latte. It wasn't quite as good as McCullen's, but he had never met a mocha he didn't like, or a latte, so mocha lattes were pretty much an addiction.

"So, Asanuma, you've been here a week now. How are you finding the school?" The teacher next to him, a red-headed man called Mark Brown who taught mathematics, asked.

'Asanuma' answered with a non-committal shrug, taking a bite of his sandwich to give himself an excuse not to give a more detailed answer.

Brown, who was done with his own lunch, was not about to give up so easily on the conversation.

"Obviously, you like the coffee, at least." He chuckled. "For myself, I think we have a very entertaining student body."

Storm Shadow frowned a bit at that: he was still rather disgusted with his Volleyball team's lack of respect for two of their cheerleaders. As a matter of fact, he intended to keep a close eye on them to make sure they didn't bother Esuma or prank Lily.

"Most of the kids seem fine," he commented, his upper lip curled into a slight snarl, "but I just finished a Volleyball practice and had to lecture the boys in the change room not once, but twice. They were lusting in way too precise details after one of the cheerleaders, and they had this nasty prank planned for another one."

Several teachers laughed at that. Storm Shadow frowned and cocked his head questioningly.

"The boys are always lusting after Esuma," an English teacher called Cheryl Halliday explained, smiling indulgently. "She's an awesome kid: very smart, super friendly and a good sense of humour, but she's way too pretty for her own good."

The geography teacher, a graying man by the name of Cartwell, nodded energetically.

"Can't blame the boys." He commented. "Can't say she leaves me cold either…" he added wistfully.

Storm Shadow's eyebrows disappeared under his bangs.

"She's _sixteen_." He remarked.

"Yes, well, she doesn't act like it, and she turns 18 in 414 days." Cartwell laughed. "I'd wait, don't worry. Not interested in going to jail."

"Four hundred and _fifteen_." Brown interjected. "You forgot the extra day next year, John; it's a leap year."

Cartwell's eyes widened a bit before he chuckled.

"Obviously, I'm not the only one who's counting."

Storm Shadow slammed both fists on the table, making most drinks spill over a bit and all the teachers jump back slightly, startled.

"You are both disgusting," he growled, "and I can't believe I'm the only one objecting to this kind of talk. I don't care how pretty and mature she is, she's sixteen! She's a CHILD! You should all be exerting as much self control as you might need to get such thoughts out of your head or at the very least, bury them so well that none may suspect they exist!"

One of the female teachers laughed.

"That's really sweet, Asanuma, but we're just _talking_. None of us would let anyone, one of us or anybody else, touch a hair on the girl's hair. Cheryl told you, she's a great kid."

Storm Shadow wasn't really mollified, but he nodded and went back to his sandwich, letting the fight die for now.

3

"What's wrong, Esuma?" Lily asked between two bites of her apple.

Esuma blinked, coming back to the here and now. She had been thinking about her conversation with her father that morning.

"Sorry." She said, forcing a smile. She had been very expressly forbidden to tell anyone about her father's concerns and his solution to them. "I was just lost in thoughts."

And they weren't nice thoughts, either. Her father had looked so serious this morning that she'd been afraid there was some sort of international crisis going on. It had turned out that the reason for her father's gloominess had been Mr. Nakamura – he was suspicious of him. He had apparently been up all night trying to decide how much to tell her, and had sworn her to secrecy, but he was going to send someone from his team to investigate Mr. Nakamura, just in case he was really one of his enemies trying to get to him through his adopted daughter.

Esuma was horrified. Mr. Nakamura was among the nicest teachers she had ever known, and in the single week he had been here, she had already seen some improvements in all the sports team. One of the baseball players had even hit the ball in the left field today during their regular gym class, something that was unheard of at the school – none of the players had ever hit the ball past the pitcher since she'd started here. The idea that Mr. Nakamura may be an enemy of her father's, out to get her, was simply inconceivable to her.

And yet, her father was worried enough to send one of his men, one of the best of the best in the World, to infiltrate the school and investigate Mr. Nakamura. Her thoughts slid to how Mr. Nakamura would look if he knew, and she pictured one of his now famous glares, which although they were admittedly intimidating, did not manage to make him look any less handsome. She pinched her arm to bring her thoughts back to the present; thankfully, Marie and Lily were chatting about the homecoming dance and didn't notice her blushing.

"I wish I'd get invited." Marie sighed. "Did anyone ask you yet, Lily?"

Lily shook her head and shrugged. Unlike Marie, she had no problem with going to the dance alone.

"Esuma?" Marie asked.

Esuma hesitated before she nodded, feeling a bit bad for her friends: she had accepted the first invitation she had received, from one of the basketball players, and had refused sixteen more since, from various boys she barely knew.

"I'm going with Matthew." She said.

"Cool." Lily said, taking out a notepad. "Now I know who to bet on."

Marie blinked at her. Esuma, guessing what her friend meant, turned a bright red.

"You think we're going to be Homecoming King and Queen? And you're _betting_?" She sputtered.

Lily nodded, smiling. Marie giggled and nodded, obviously agreeing with Lily's prediction.

"It's just a betting pool for fun. The winner gets a free pizza." Lily specified.

4

Storm Shadow settled in the tall tree, waiting. He saw Lily come out of the school with Esuma and one of the other three cheerleaders, the red headed Marie. Storm Shadow had time to notice, although he had no idea why he'd take note of that, that Esuma was wearing a kilt-like skirt and a fitted turtleneck before he took his eyes of the girls and examined their immediate path and the area surrounding it. He found the would-be prankster, Heatly, hiding behind a large garbage bin, a bag which Storm Shadow knew to be full of week old cafeteria compost in his hands. His eyes narrowed.

He could hardly believe the nerve of the boy. It was bad enough that he had ever thought the idea of tossing a bag full of, essentially, rotten food to an overweight cheerleader was hilariously ironic as opposed to cruel and idiotic; it was bad enough that he had actually considered making the stupid idea into reality; it was simply unthinkable that he had decided to go through with it _after_ his coach had told him very specifically not to.

Storm Shadow climbed down from the tree so as to look as though he was emerging from behind it and walked to the small group of girls, timing his pace so that he'd catch up to them just before they got to the garbage bin. If the boy was scared off by his presence and gave up on the prank, he'd just chew him out at the next practice and instill a bit more fear into him. If Heatly was crazy enough to try and get Lily anyway, he was the one who would end up full of compost and he would be out of the team and therefore, someone else's problem.

"Good afternoon, girls." He called out when he got to their heights.

They greeted him back, and the dragonfly even happened to make a pirouette that made him chuckle at the coincidence and made the girls giggle and praise 'Racno' for his good manners.

The bag flew through the air towards Lily's head when they were a mere step away from the garbage bin.

5

Esuma saw the bag coming but had no time to get Lily out of the way and had to settle for using her own body as a shield by putting herself between her friend and the bag filled with who knew what. She braced herself, but the expected impact never came. She saw a white blur, heard a boy scream and next thing she knew, Mr. Nakamura was dragging a screaming, kicking and compost covered Steve Heatly from behind the bin to the main path.

Mr. Nakamura dropped Steve on the ground. Both the teacher and the student were looking downright murderous.

"This ain't the gym!" Steve screamed. "You're not the boss of me outside of school!"

The bravado left Mr. Nakamura completely unimpressed.

"I'm not the boss of you anywhere anymore, Mr. Heatly, except for your regular gym classes." He growled. "You're off the team, and if you don't want your friends to be kicked out as well, you had better advise them not to even mention you during practice from now on."

"YOU THREW GARBAGE AT ME! YOU GOT NO RIGHT TO DO THAT!"

"I did no such thing. I intercepted a flying bag of garbage that was about to hit one of my cheerleaders and sent it back the way it came." Mr. Nakamura said, his tone still having a slight growl-like quality but otherwise perfectly calm.

Steve stuttered for a moment before settling on his next verbal attack.

"You're in trouble, Nakamura-_san_." He sneered, pronouncing the Japanese honorific with as much disdain and sarcasm as Esuma thought was humanly possible. "You touched me. You dragged me here and threw me down."

"How could I possibly be in trouble for hurriedly getting you out of the shadows and into the sunlight to have a look at you and make sure you weren't hurt?" Mr. Nakamura said. "You're not, by the way. I would say you won't even have a single bruise or scratch on you."

Steve's eyes widened as he realized he really wouldn't be able to get the gym teacher into trouble. He scowled at all of them, got up and stormed off, muttering curses. They all watched him leave for a few seconds, until Mr. Nakamura spoke again. His voice was back to normal.

"Good reflexes, Miss Yr." He said, addressing Esuma. "Are you all right, Miss Duncan?"

Esuma felt herself blushing and saw her friend turn bright red as well, creating a stark contrast to her light blond hair. Lily nodded in answer to the question and Esuma mumbled a thank you, her heart beating altogether too fast for her liking.

"That was _awesome_." Marie commented, still looking wide-eyed at Mr. Nakamura. "You saved her! You totally saved her!"

Storm Shadow couldn't help smiling. It was always nice to be appreciated, even for something easy. He couldn't help but notice that Esuma, her embarrassment at his praise to her passed, looked very impressed as well.

"It was no trouble." He said. "You girls take care. I'll see you all tomorrow at practice."

"Wait!" Esuma called out as he was walking away.

She ran around him to face him, all the while asking herself what she thought she was doing. She couldn't help herself – here he was, saving her and her friends, and her father was about to put one of his super-soldier after him, and she couldn't so much as warn him. She couldn't stand the thought of not even showing her gratitude for what the white-clad teacher had just done.

He raised an eyebrow at her, tilting his head just so. Her heart started hammering and she almost changed her mind. The last thing she needed was to have a crush on someone, especially a teacher. She took a deep breath to steady herself.

"We're really grateful, Mr. Nakamura." She said, her tone remarkably calm. "Please let us buy you a coffee, or tea? Whatever you'd like?"

Lily and Marie had joined them by now and enthusiastically exclaimed that that was a great idea. Within seconds, the two of them were pretty well begging, while Esuma just smiled, waiting for an answer. A soft breeze caught her snowy white hair and made it flutter around a bit before it settled back, looking just as nice slightly messy as it had before the breeze had disturbed it.

Storm Shadow's first instinct was to refuse, but he couldn't come up with any reason why he should follow that instinct. If he'd been attracted to Esuma, refusing to go anywhere near her whenever he could help it would indeed be the only honorable course of action, but since he wasn't, since he couldn't possibly be attracted to a girl barely more than half his age, no matter how inhumanly beautiful she was, no matter how maturely she behaved and no matter how much fun she was to be around, there was really no reason not to let the girls express their gratitude. In fact, it would have been rude to refuse.

"All right." He sighed. "If you insist. You do realize you really don't have to do that, don't you?"

They all nodded energetically. The dragonfly flew a circle around Storm Shadow before returning to Esuma's side and the girls giggled.

"It's official." Marie laughed. "You have to come now: Racno just bound you to us."

Storm Shadow snorted but followed the girls to a nearby coffee shop.

6

Esuma frowned slightly when Mr. Nakamura, after staring at the part of the menu that contained all the fancy coffees with whipped cream and syrup, tore his eyes away from it and ordered a cup of green tea.

"Mr. Nakamura, you can have one of the nicer ones. You don't have to have one of the cheapest things they have." She whispered to him.

He chuckled, surprising her.

"Thank you, but this has nothing to do with the cost and everything to do with my own self-control. I already had one mocha latte at lunch and I don't allow myself any more than one daily."

She chuckled too, ordered a chocolate milk, and the two of them joined Marie and Lily at a booth in the corner of the shop. Marie and Lily were sitting on the same side, leaving Esuma to sit next to Mr. Nakamura. She squeezed herself as far against the wall as she could and Mr. Nakamura sat right on the edge of the seat so that they weren't even close to brushing against each other. Esuma relaxed a bit.

"Mr. Nakamura, are you going to the homecoming dance?" Lily asked.

Mr. Nakamura's eyes widened.

"No." He answered. "Why would I? It's for the students to have fun, you guys don't need all your crabby teachers getting in the way."

"But you're not crabby at all." Marie protested. "Some teachers do go… I think they're required to have a few adults around. I bet you're a good dancer."

Mr. Nakamura just shrugged. Unknown to the girls and for reasons he could not fathom, he had suddenly pictured himself dancing with Esuma and was very eager to get the mental image out of his head.

"Are you guys going to wear your uniforms to school?" Lily asked Esuma and Marie. "I have a pink shirt, but I don't have anything else than my uniform with lilac on it. Do you?"

"You have to wear the school colors on homecoming week?" Mr. Nakamura asked.

Esuma nodded.

"Yes, and it's really nice. Everyone wears them… we never win championships, but we always win the school spirit competition."

"Even the boys?" Mr. Nakamura asked. "I can see the ones in the teams wearing their uniforms, but what about the others? Do they actually wear pink and lilac for the whole week?"

Marie giggled and explained that most of the boys wore a necktie with pink and lilac in it, or borrowed a scarf from their mom or some other women in their families. She then asked Mr. Nakamura whether he'd join in.

Esuma's chuckle at the face Mr. Nakamura made at the idea died in her throat as she was suddenly seized with a particularly violent headache. She winced and clamped her hands on her forehead and temples, shutting her eyes and clenching her jaw. It did not help at all: the headache quickly grew worse until tears were streaming out of her eyes. At the same time, the usual images started flashing in her head, accompanied by the usual sound of her parents screaming and the usual overwhelming feeling of pain, loss, hopelessness and helplessness. She tried to ride it out, but rather than fading away and leave her with a migraine like they usually did, the visions sharpened until there was nothing else and the pain just kept increasing until it felt as though it would kill her.

7

Storm Shadow barely had time to put his cup down between the time Esuma winced and grabbed her head and the time she collapsed limply on him. He put his fingers on her throat to check her pulse and breathed a sigh of relief upon finding it.

"ESUMA!" Marie and Lily cried together, scrambling out of their seats.

Storm Shadow got up, picking up Esuma in his arms and patting her cheek gently in an effort to wake her up. Marie and Lily crowded around him, bouncing on their feet, chewing on their fists and emitting panicked little cries at the same time.

"Please calm down." Storm Shadow begged them.

"We should get her home!" Lily exclaimed. "And call her doctor!"

Storm Shadow frowned, puzzled.

"We should get her to the hospital." He argued. "There'll be doctors there."

Both Marie and Lily shook their heads.

"She's seen tons of Doctors," Lily explained, "and they can never do anything for her. They always end up doing all sorts of tests that only make her worse… her father has issued specific instructions to the school that if she needs medical attention, she is to be brought home and their family doctor is to be contacted. He knows what to do with her."

Now that she mentioned it, Storm Shadow remembered that, like all teachers, he had indeed been issued these instructions on what to do if Esuma was injured or ill.

"Very well." He said, nodding. "We'll take her home. Can we walk there or should I call a taxi?"

"We can walk." Marie said, leading the way. "You can carry her, right?"

Storm Shadow resisted rolling his eyes.

"Easily," he said. "She's actually really light."

Marie only had to lead them for a block before they reached Esuma's house: a rather anonymous looking cottage, well maintained without being particularly pretty. Storm Shadow felt it looked like the house of someone who doesn't want to be noticed and automatically started wondering what kind of family Esuma had.

Marie took a key from Esuma's bag and let them all in. They walked through the living room and Storm Shadow caught a flash of red and yellow somewhere near the ceiling, behind the valance adorning the room's window.

"What's up there?" He asked.

"I'd say that's Sop." Lily replied.

Storm Shadow heard "I'd say that's up" and blinked at her.

"Isn't that what I said?" He asked. "I was wondering what was up there. I saw something move."

They had left the living room by now, and Marie turned into the first bedroom in the hallway.

"Sop. S.O.P. It's Esuma's budgie." Lily said.

Storm Shadow deposited Esuma on her bed and turned to Lily.

"A red and yellow budgie? I thought they only came in green and yellow or in blue and white. And isn't one of you going to call this family doctor? I can't very well go poking around for the phone number."

"Right!" Marie exclaimed, rushing back towards the kitchen.

Lily stayed behind, looking worriedly at Esuma.

"That almost never happens." She said. "I think it's the first time since third grade."

Storm Shadow had no answer to give, but he preferred to stay until he at least knew the doctor was on his way, so the two of them stood in silence, looking at Esuma in the hopes she'd wake up.

Marie came back a few minutes later.

"Her doctor's on his way," she announced, "and I also called General Abernathy."

Storm Shadow's eyebrows shot straight up. He turned to Marie.

"Abernathy?" He asked, in as normal a voice as he could manage. "Who's that?"

"Her dad." Marie answered absently.

Storm Shadow did remember overhearing that Esuma was an adopted orphan, but he would never have suspected this kind of coincidence.

"I'm… going to walk around to stretch my legs a bit." He said, getting out of the room and scanning the small house for family pictures.

It didn't take long to find what he was looking for: there was a family portrait in the hall, with Esuma standing between a woman Storm Shadow had never seen before and, sure enough, General Clayton Abernathy, also known as Hawk. At the very least, Storm Shadow was now very glad he had spared the man. However, it did mean that he had best get out of here very quickly.

He went back to the room and, with a perfectly calm voice, informed Marie and Lily that he couldn't stay because he had another engagement. He asked them to let him know in the morning how Miss Yr was doing and bidding them a good night, left as quickly as he could without raising the girls' suspicions.

He reflected on his way back home that maybe Fate was trying to mock him. He now knew where Hawk lived, and he couldn't take advantage of it without betraying the trust of his students. There was no doubt in his mind that he'd do the same if Hawk had turned out to be the father of any of his students, and that it had nothing to do with Esuma in particular.


	4. Chapter 4: Of Dreams and Brooms

A/N: Sorry for the wait, but here's chapter 4. Please let me know what you think!

* * *

1

She screams their names, unable to move, unable to help. Even her voice barely comes out of her throat.

Her mother and her father are about a stone throw away, right next to a big, white blur that she knows to be a monster intent on killing all of them. She has to do something, she has to save her parents, but she can't do _anything_.

The monster raises its arms and suddenly, fire erupts everywhere around her parents, blocking them from her view entirely. She hears their screams and the monster's laughter, but again, her own screams seem to die somewhere between her throat and her lips.

The monster's laugh turns to a howl of rage when her parents' screams change to a strange song in a language she doesn't understand. A purple ball of light shoots out of the wall of fire, coming straight for her, and the monster jumps over the fire, running towards the ball and herself. Her parents' song dies.

She screams and bounces to her feet, free from the bonds that were holding her, but before she can take even one step towards her parents, the purple ball of light engulfs her, and everything stops.

The monster's claws are but inches from her, but the beast does not move. Behind it, the flames have stopped as well, there without motion or even heat. She extends a hand towards the monster's outstretched claws, not really knowing why, just reaching towards something she doesn't understand out of instinctive curiosity. Her hand never reaches: before her very eyes, it starts shrinking, and she feels the rest of her body following suit. At the same time, the monster becomes invisible as the purple light engulfs everything.

For a long time, the Universe is nothing but purple light. When it finally fades, it leaves nothing but cold and darkness in its place. She cries, terrified, until a pair of big hands picks her up and she finds herself nestled into a warm embrace.

* * *

2

Esuma woke up with a gasp, her breathing ragged and her heart hammering madly in her chest. She didn't notice her father until he put his hand on her shoulder.

"It's all right, little one." He whispered. "It's just a dream."

She sat up, finally noticing the daylight filtering through her curtains.

"I know." She sighed, her heart already slowing back down to normal and her voice sounding almost normal. "I just wish I could stop having it."

"Did you make up on your mind about hypnotherapy?"

She shrugged.

"I… I don't know. I'm pretty sure the dream IS related to my parents' death, and I do think that if I remembered what really happened, I wouldn't imagine a monster attacking them anymore, but…" She trailed off.

The idea had been Lily's, at first. Marie enthusiastically approved of it, and although Esuma knew her friends meant well, she wasn't comfortable at all about a stranger poking around in her head. Her father and mother had been very careful not to express any opinion on the sensitive subject, other than letting her know they would if she asked and not otherwise, so as to allow her to make up her own mind.

As uncomfortable as she was with the idea, however, it remained tempting. The recurring nightmare was one thing, but Esuma had noticed a long time ago that it always followed her headaches and so, was convinced they were connected. If they were, getting rid of the dream could mean getting rid of the headaches, which in turn would mean she would no longer be at risk of collapsing in the middle of a cheer or something else important, or while out with her friends, ruining the outing and making everyone worry.

Hawk sighed as he watched his daughter's brow furrow. If anyone deserved to live happily and free of pains and worries, it was Esuma, and he could honestly say that he didn't just feel that way because she was his daughter. Anybody who knew her would whole heartedly agree with him… Esuma's exterior beauty, which, from Hawk's point of view, only meant the poor girl had to contend with every superficial boy around trying to woo her, was only a pale reflection of her inner beauty.

Yet, he was not tempted to help her make the decision to seek help. He and her mother both agreed that Esuma, despite her relatively young age, was more than mature enough to have the right to make up her own mind on this. She was a reasonable person, perfectly capable of making rational decisions, and to do anything close to forcing her hand in such a private matter would have been, in both Hawk's and his wife's opinion, downright criminal.

He opted to try and distract his daughter from her dream by switching to another subject.

"Marie and Lily said you were hanging out with a teacher and he helped bring you home?"

Esuma's eyes widened and she looked away.

"Steve Heatly tried to throw a bag of compost at Lily, and Mr. Nakamura caught it. We wanted to buy him coffee to thank him." She muttered. She knew how her father would react. "Did you feed Oliaf yet?" She added with the faint hope to distract him. Oliaf was the goldfish living in their pond, and had been there for as long as Esuma could remember.

To her surprise, her father did not scream. His eyes did narrow, but his voice remained perfectly calm.

"Yes, I fed him. Esuma… you need to stay away from that man. You really do." His voice shook a bit at this point and he took a deep breath. Esuma looked at him and noticed his face had gone white. She felt the blood drain from her own face as well: her father was scared, for the firs time she could recall.

"I'm sorry, Daddy." She said sincerely. "I'm really, really sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, I…"

"Esuma, if Nakamura is who I think he is, he could kill you in the blink of an eye, and by bringing him here, your friends have revealed to him who you were, in the off chance he didn't already know. Thankfully, my agent will start at your school tomorrow… don't be surprised if he hovers around you a lot, although you will probably not notice: the man has a talent for being invisible."

Esuma made herself look at her father in the eyes. She knew he was only looking out for her, and she knew it was his job to protect not only her but the whole World against bad people, and that he was extremely good at it, but she couldn't help being certain that in this particular case, he was worried for nothing.

"Daddy… I really think you're wrong about him."

Hawk sighed. Esuma was usually a very good judge of character and it was entirely possible that she was right and that his suspicions about her new gym teacher were unfounded, but he simply couldn't take any chance. He considered himself the luckiest man alive to have been entrusted with the fatherly care of such an amazing girl, and he was not about to risk losing her. There was only a slim chance that the school's new gym teacher was indeed Storm Shadow in disguise, but a slim chance was enough to warrant action, as much for the sake of the free World as for that of his daughter and her friends.

"I hope you're right, little one." He said. "If you are, I promise you I'll apologize to him personally."

* * *

3

Time seems to stop. For what feels like a lifetime, Tommy can't do anything else than stare in shock. The Hard Master is dead, his face in the dirt and a long blade protruding from his back. Tommy's heart is beating hard, yet in the face of his elder's abrupt mortality, the child is keenly aware of each beat and finds himself anxious for the next between each one. He feels very selfish and unworthy for being concerned for his own self at a moment like this, and turns his thoughts towards the dead man. Above any sorrow over the loss of his relative and teacher, he feels overwhelming regret at the fact he never did manage to gain his love, approval, or even acceptance and that now, he never will.

When he finally manages to tear his eyes from his uncle's corpse to look up at the murderer, he sees Death itself, a black specter grinning a skeleton's soulless smile.

"MURDERER!" The apparition screams, pointing at him. "DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY!"

The boy's eyes widen as he realizes that he will be blamed for the murder. He knows he's not liked much by anybody within the clan, and he automatically understands that the baseless accusation will be enough: he can either run, or die.

He runs.

He runs without stopping until his legs fail him and he falls. He drags himself in the shadow of a dark alley and collapses again, his legs feeling like liquid lead, his throat and even his tongue so dry as to hurt and his stomach growling and paining. He's been hungry lots of time before now, but skipping a meal does not begin to compare to skipping several, while running as fast as you can and drinking nothing. He tries to put a number to how long he's gone without any food or water by counting the days, and he remembers nighttime coming twice… it's almost there again and it was morning when his uncle died, so it must have been three days since he left the compound. Three days since he ate, drank or slept. Three days since his uncle was killed right in front of him…

He starts crying then, tears that have waited three days to come out and that burn his eyes. He cries and sobs helplessly, unnoticed by the passers by on the main street, mere feet but a world away. He cries because he's lost not only his uncle, but the chance to prove to the man that he was worthy of his love. He's lost the chance to ever be treated like family by the Hard Master, but also by the rest of the clan, who now believe him to be a murderer and a traitor. He no longer has a home or a family, and meanwhile, Snake Eyes is there, grieving the Hard Master and cursing the one they think murdered him with the rest of them. He has no idea what to do: he has nobody to turn to, nowhere to go, he's hungry, he's tired, and crying is making him even thirstier.

His tears eventually turn to dry sobs and even they subside as his survival instincts kick in. He forces himself up and back to the main street. He's in a commercial area, but at this time of the day, most businesses are closed. He walks until he finds an unlocked door, and enters a restaurant. The hostess automatically comes to him and after looking him up and down, wrinkles her nose in distaste. Tommy can imagine why: both he and his gi must be filthy by now, and public places typically prefer people to wear shoes, too.

"I'm sorry to bother you." He says, bowing deeply. The few words dry up his throat, choking him, and he coughs.

The hostess sighs.

"Why aren't you in a foster home?" She asks. "Look, I'll get you a drink of water if you promise to disappear and go straight to the police. Honestly, on the streets at your age!"

She takes off without waiting for his answer and comes back a minute later with a kiddy plastic cup filled with water. Tommy bows again, takes it and drains it.

"Thank you. I don't suppose…" He means to ask for a job, already picturing himself washing dishes in exchange of a meal, but she interrupts him with a glare and a shooing gesture.

Knowing a drink is all he'll get here, he leaves. He spends the rest of the evening trying his luck in every business he finds still open, and gets much the same reception everywhere. Nobody is interested in hiring a homeless boy, they all just want him to leave and cease polluting their business with his presence.

He gives up for the night when he becomes too tired to walk, and finds a cranny to squeeze into between two dumpsters in a back alley, his stomach still growling and his throat feeling dryer than ever despite the occasional drinks of water people gave him before chasing him away. His eyes fill with tears again, but he has no energy left to sob. He falls asleep with tears still seeping from beneath his eyelids.

The following day starts off the same way: despite more businesses being opened, nobody is looking to hire a homeless child legally too young to work. By the evening, Tommy is forced to conclude he needs to try something else.

He picks up an empty can in a dumpster and for several minutes, glares at it balefully. He can't believe it's come to this. He was born an Arashikage, a member of the most prestigious ninja clan in Japan… some would say a mere step down from an Emperor, although he rather feels it's the other way around. Being reduced to begging is intolerable.

His vision blurs at the thought and he wipes at his eyes irritably. He's tired of crying, he's tired of being thirsty, hungry and generally exhausted. If he could just get enough money for one meal, he'd at least have a bit more strength and he might be able to find work, even if just to sweep the sidewalk for one of the businesses. He doesn't want to do this, but he still finds it better than swiping food like Snake Eyes tried to do, and much better than starving to death.

He settles against a wall near a busy intersection, the can in front of him, and starts shooting pleading looks to anyone who walks by, and even asking out loud for some change every now and again. He falls asleep within the hour, his face flushed with shame and his can containing only a few meager coins, wondering whether dying hurts more or less than an empty stomach and at the same time, dreaming that he'll wake up to find his can full of bills.

He wakes up to find his can gone; stolen along with what few coins he had managed to collect. He narrows his eyes at the empty space where the can should be, picturing some punk spotting him, a little kid covered in filth with visible streams on his cheeks from his tears, sleeping fitfully with a stomach that won't stop growling, his lips parched from dehydration, and stealing the can with the bit of change in it for a laugh. He decides, at that moment, that the people of this city deserve to lose whatever he needs to survive: he's done _asking_ for what he needs.

* * *

4

Storm Shadow woke up with a start and sprang up to a seating position, panting and covered in sweat. He _hated_ that dream, and the fact it exactly reflected what had happened all those years ago only made it worse. In the space of a few short days, he had lost his home, any semblance of safety, and finally, his dignity. He had since learned that home was where you made it and safety only depended on yourself, but he had never quite gotten over the shame of what he had been reduced to back then; even nowadays, he valued his dignity and honor above most everything else.

It was easy to guess this would have come to a surprise to GI Joe… in their eyes, he was but a villain. They had no idea what his motivations were, nor did they care. And to think, their leader lived in this small town, no more than three blocks away from his apartment… if Esuma ever described her gym teacher and cheerleading coach to her father, in any detail, Hawk was liable to recognize him and launch his whole team after him.

Storm Shadow's mind settled on the beautiful white haired girl. He wondered whether she was all right before clenching his fists and frowning at himself. What was wrong with him? He shouldn't wonder, he shouldn't care. It was almost as though he was getting… attached. It wasn't like him to get attached, in any way. He had spent most of his life alone, and he had long since stopped minding and started relishing the independence and the complete control he had over his own destiny.

Getting attached was just not something he did. Getting attached to this _girl_, this child, was inconceivable. It was her fantastic speed and her exceptional agility, it had to be. He was reacting to her potential, he was interested in a promising student. It was not attachment per se. It was simply a concern born out of a desire for the girl's wonderful potential not to go to waste.

He lay back down. Yes, that had to be it. But then, why was it her warm smile, and neither her sensational speed nor her uncanny agility, that lingered in his mind's eye as he drifted back to sleep?

* * *

5

Snake Eyes, or as he was known for the length of this assignment, John Smith, sighed as the left the Director's office and headed for the custodian's closet. Posing as a high school custodian was already not his idea of a fun mission because he remembered very well how the custodians were treated by the students back when he had been in high school and he doubted things had changed much. The fact that the school's director had been told "John" was part of an outreach program and therefore treated him like he was mentally challenged did not exactly make the situation any more pleasant.

The worst part, however, was that, if Hawk was right, he just might have to kill Storm Shadow again. It had been difficult enough the first time and that had been before his sword brother had planted the seeds of doubt regarding his guilt in his head.

He pushed the unpleasant thoughts aside as he opened his closet and took out the wide broom. He set to work and let his thoughts wander, slipping into meditation as he swept the hallways before the kids arrived to start their day.


	5. Chapter 5: Turning Up the Heat

Chapter 5: Turning up the Heat

Author's Notes: thank you so much to all my reviewers! I just wanted to answer Aphrodite96's question about Esuma's hair, because I'm sure she's not the only one wondering: it IS white, and I'll be the first to admit it's an unusual color. Let's just say I have my reasons. :D

1

Storm Shadow woke up the following morning utterly horrified. The nightmare about his childhood had not come back, but oh, did he wish it had… anything would have been better than the dreams that had visited him through the rest of the night.

He got out of bed shakily and went to put the coffee on. The smell reminded him of the coffee shop yesterday and, by association, of one of the disturbing dreams, where Esuma had fallen asleep in his arms for entirely different reasons that she had in reality. He gulped.

"She's SIXTEEN." He muttered to himself.

She had been older in the dreams, or at least he thought she had been. Still young, but adult at least, yet still wearing that cheerleading uniform that seemed to have been designed for her. When she was wearing anything at all, that was.

Storm Shadow's fist clenched on the handle of his cup at the thought, breaking it, causing the cup to fall back on the counter where it split in two parts.

"SIXTEEN." He growled.

He got a new mug and poured half a cup of coffee into it, then filled the rest with chocolate milk, making his weekend version of a mocha latte. He drained it and looked at the empty cup dejectedly, sorely tempted to make another one and at the same time, knowing he wouldn't taste a second helping anymore than he had the first one.

In a blatant attempt at lowering the amount of disgust he felt at himself, he cast his mind back to the many bits of dreams that were relatively innocent. All this achieved, however, was to make him realize those were the most pleasant parts of the dream, even without taking any guilt into account.

He sank in a chair with a sigh. Lusting after a sixteen year old was bad enough, but at the limit, he could blame his hormones and write it off. Being in love was an entirely different problem.

He'd just have to deal with it in the same way he would have simple desire: he'd just have to refrain from acting on it in any way until his heart got the message and forgot the whole silly idea. Maybe he should try to hook Esuma up with someone else. His stomach lurched at the thought and at that precise moment, a dragonfly flew in from the oven fan, did a loop in the air and landed on the table, facing him.

Storm Shadow stared at it, dumbfounded. The dragonfly stared back.

"Is there something in the air that acts like catnip for dragonflies around here?" He asked out loud.

The dragonfly shook its tiny head. Storm Shadow jerked back and fell off his chair, only for the dragonfly to move to his right knee, still staring him down.

Storm Shadow gulped.

"You did NOT just answer my question."

The dragonfly nodded.

Storm Shadow turned white, but he had trained all his life to survive and did not completely lose his wits.

"R… Racno? I presume?"

Racno nodded again. Storm Shadow staggered up, causing Racno to simply fly back to the table, held up a finger to tell the insect to wait a second and went to the refrigerator, taking out a bottle of soy sauce of which he poured a small amount in a saucer before putting it away. He brought the saucer to the table and went to fetch a pad of paper, which he put next to the saucer. He then went to a cupboard and extracted a toothpick, which he put in the soy sauce.

"Allright then." He finally said to the dragonfly, sitting back down on the chair. "If I'm not imagining that your head movements are answers to what I'm saying, prove you really are intelligent and guess what I brought those things for."

Undetected by Storm Shadow, Racno rolled his tiny eyes. He then grabbed the toothpick, dipped it a few times in the soy sauce and wrote "happy?" on the paper, using the soy sauce as a rudimentary ink.

"No." Storm Shadow said flatly. "You're magical, aren't you?"

Racno nodded.

"Does E… Miss Yr know?"

Racno wrote his answer.

_No, and she must not find out._

"Are you her protector? Are you afraid I'll hurt her?"

_No and maybe. I need to ask you some questions._

"Right." Storm Shadow said. Ninja or not, he was not about to argue with a magical being, even one in the form of an insect.

_Are you here on orders from someone?_

"No."

_You're hiding._

Storm Shadow stiffened.

"How much do you know?" He asked in a growl.

_I know you__ are a great warrior, and I see a taint on your aura – you've done horrible things._

"For the greater good." Storm Shadow protested.

_No. For yourself, with the belief it __also happened to benefit the greater good. There is a subtle difference there._

"You're not asking a whole lot of questions."

_Would you harm Esuma?_

Storm Shadow's eyes widened.

"No."

_Not even for your greater good?_

"NO!"

_Ah. You love her._

Storm Shadow gulped and nodded.

"I don't intend for anyone to ever even know. You need not worry, I will not pursue her. But if you're not her protector, then what are you to her?"

Racno dropped the toothpick without answering and flew off, up through the oven vent.

"WAIT!" Storm Shadow cried out. "Who is SHE? Why are you her companion? That red and yellow budgie… it's magical too, isn't it?"

No answer came. Storm Shadow stared at the vent for a while, then picked up the phone and called in sick. He could imagine the director would flip out when he found out his gym teacher and coach was missing the first day of homecoming week, but there was no helping it: he needed time to meditate.

2

Esuma contemplated the two outfits she had laid out on her bed, wondering to herself what was wrong with her. She hadn't actually agreed to wear her cheerleading uniform and therefore match Lily and Marie, but she knew they expected her to, so why was she even hesitating?

A small part of her knew the answer but was being quite intently ignored by the rest of her.

It WAS chilly today, so technically, the short white and pink pleated skirt and sleeveless, bare midriff pink and lavender top weren't exactly the ideal choice of wardrobe. On the other hand, she could easily wear nylons and a jacket, and it was always warm inside the school itself anyway.

Besides, the white jean skirt with the lavender and pink embroidery was just as short and although not sleeveless, the pink short sleeved crop-top twinset she was contemplating was such a light fabric that it may as well be.

The only advantage to it, really, was… she shook her head, refusing to allow herself to think it. Besides, for all she knew, he liked her uniform. She turned red as the thought sneaked past her defenses.

"Uniform." She said firmly. "I'm wearing my uniform. I can wear something else tomorrow, this way I can warn Marie and Lily and I can even loan them something."

Now that this resolution was made, she dressed quickly. She avoided strictly wearing her uniform by not doing up her thick white hair, letting it fall instead to brush her wing bones, and by wearing purple ballet-style slippers rather than the white sneakers she wore when cheerleading.

Although it was not in her habits to admire herself, she caught a glance in the mirror and smiled in spite of herself, only to hastily turn her eyes away, muttering that it didn't matter what she looked like because she was absolutely NOT trying to catch anyone's attention.

She was still working on convincing herself of that when she met up with Marie and Lily in the school's student lounge area before class.

"Ooh, you got it bad." Lily commented right away in lieu of a greeting. "Who is it?"

Esuma's eyes widened and she felt her cheeks burn.

"W… what?" She sputtered. "What makes you think…?"

"Points for keeping your mouth straight, but you have a very goofy grin in your eyes." Marie giggled.

"You were a bit flushed even before you turned beet red, too." Lily added.

"And then there's the skip in your steps." Marie concluded, grinning. "And here we were worried you'd still feel bad today."

Esuma swallowed and peaked around, making sure they were out of earshot. She briefly considered lying but dismissed the thought immediately. Lily and Mary were her dearest friends; if anyone could talk some sense into her, it was them.

"Oh alright." She whispered. "But keep it down! And you can't tell ANYONE. Not my parents, not your parents, nobody we know, nobody we don't know, and definitely not him."

Marie and Lily's eyebrows shot up and they nodded eagerly, edging towards her to catch her whispers.

"I know it's silly. I know he won't feel the same. Okay?"

They nodded, knowing Esuma would not continue until they agreed with the nonsensical statement. They were pretty sure that there wasn't a man or boy on the planet that could resist Esuma, but their friend had a tendency to be oblivious to her own charms.

"Mr. Nakamura." Esuma breathed, turning beet red. "I know, I know, it's stupid."

Lily and Mary shook their heads.

"Love is never stupid, Esuma." Mary said sympathetically, hugging her.

Lily joined in the hug.

"Just be patient." She advised. "He can't now, but once you're 18, I'm sure he'll love you back."

"And if he doesn't, we'll beat him up." Mary added. "I know he can kick us into next week, but maybe we'll at least manage to bleed on his nice white clothes."

Esuma chuckled, feeling a lot better about her feelings now that she had some support.

3

Snake Eyes finally spotted Esuma as she left the student's lounge with a couple of other girls, and almost walked into the wall. He had seen her before, but it had been a while, longer than he had realized up to now. Thinking of it, he figured she might have been five or six at the time.

She had been a very cute child, despite the striking white hair and purple eyes. The teenager he saw heading down the hallway, however, was downright breathtaking. How Hawk did not spend _all_ his time beating boys away was beyond him. He frowned as he suddenly wondered whether Storm Shadow really was here, after her. And if he was, what exactly would he do now that he had seen her? Would he respect his own twisted code of honor? Considering that he was already breaking it if he really was after her at all, that seemed doubtful. Snake Eyes' knuckles turned white on his broom at the thought.

"HEY! Watch were you're going, idiot!"

Snake Eyes stopped and looked up just in time to see the students he was about to hit with his broom. He pulled back.

/* Sorry. */ He signed. /* I wasn't looking. I'm new. */

"What's the matter? You can't see and you can't talk, either?" One the boys sneered.

Snake Eyes sighed and shook his head before heading away. He twisted to duck the kick aimed at him and turned around, going through possible strategies to find one that didn't harm the kids _and_ didn't reveal him as a ninja.

"You almost hit me with your BROOM, you stupid bonehead! Apologize!"

Snake Eyes rolled his eyes.

/* I DID. I. Am. Sorry. */

"Do I look like I speak sign language?" The boy asked. His friends snickered.

Snake Eyes had time to idly wonder if staff being harassed by students was tolerated at this school before he found himself dodging a punch. He barely resisted the urge to slam the boy into the wall and stepped back instead. He had to keep his cover, and he certainly couldn't go and get himself fired for teaching a bully a lesson in ninja spotting.

He was pondering whether he'd get away with accidentally tripping the kid, following an attempted kick to his groin, when the boy's arms were suddenly grabbed by behind and the bully found himself held tightly by none other than the girl Snake Eyes was here to protect. The irony would have stung a bit if he hadn't been busy telling himself he did NOT think she was beautiful when she was angry.

"Steve Heatly, you big bully!" She growled. "Stop it! I can't believe you haven't learned _anything_ from yesterday!"

"Awh, don't be like that, Esuma." Heatly purred. "I'll leave him alone if you want. How about a date to thank me for not putting in a complaint against him, hmm?"

Snake Eyes felt his blood boil and wondered again how Hawk found time to lead the Joes between sessions of chasing the boys away from his poor daughter. Esuma narrowed her eyes and let go of the kid but spun him around so he'd face her.

"Unless you count detention, me for hitting you and you because I'll explain WHY I hit you, we're never going on a date, Steve."

"And don't be stupid, we all saw what happened. You weren't looking where you were going either and he didn't hit you, and you tried to hit _him_." Marie piped in.

"With no success whatsoever." Lily intervened. "And check out his shoulders. You're an idiot, Steve: that guy could probably put you through the wall if he wanted to."

Snake Eyes stooped a bit more, but not enough: Steve looked his way and paled a bit before mumbling something about cleaners being in the way and walking away.

/* Thank you. */

"You're welcome." Esuma said, smiling. "Sorry about Steve."

"OH NO!" Marie suddenly cried out.

Esuma, Lily and Snake Eyes turned to her, alarmed. She was looking at the bulletin board and appeared to be devastated.

"Sorry." She sighed. "It's okay. It's just… Mr. Nakamura's off sick."

Esuma's eyes widened and her smile vanished. Snake Eyes noticed and felt a shudder go through him: if Nakamura was indeed Storm Shadow, he had already at the very least partially succeeded in seducing the poor girl. Unnoticed by the girls, his eyes narrowed and suddenly, he had no more doubt that the Soft Master had been right to assume Storm Shadow's claim that he had not killed the Hard Master had simply been a lie. The idea he'd have to kill his brother _again_ was suddenly a bit more bearable.


	6. Chapter 6: Love and Hate

Chapter 6: Love and Hate

A/N: As usual, a million thanks to everyone who reviewed. Your feedback is precious!

A/N 2: I'm sorry, I know I'm slow. Thank you for your patience!

A/N 3: PLEASE REVIEW! Feedback is very, very important to me on this story. I absolutely _need_ to know what you think, whether it's good or bad! It might even motivate me to write faster!

1

"Ugh." Marie sighed, putting down her lunch tray next to Esuma's on the picnic table. "I've never seen such a bad start to homecoming week. And here we have this beautiful weather, sunny and it warmed up a lot since this morning… it should have been a great day."

"Did you see the board?" Lily added gloomily. "Our practice is officially cancelled for this afternoon."

"Yeah," Marie said. "I hope he's back tomorrow. Maybe he'll reschedule our practice?"

"You think so?" Lily asked. "That'd be great! It would make sense, too… everyone needs cheering up after today, so bring in the cheerleaders!"

Mary giggled as Lily raised her fist into the air in a battle pose, and Esuma smiled.

"I wonder if he's in trouble for missing," Lily mused. "It's really bad timing, you know?"

"Matthew says the whole basketball team is really down in the dumps. They were hoping not to lose, but if he's sick…"

Esuma trailed off and shook her head, refusing to think of the possibility that Mr. Nakamura was seriously ill and would be missing even more time.

"I'm sure he'll be fine." Marie said encouragingly. "About Matthew… are you still going to the dance with him?"

Esuma nodded without looking up, her eyes fixed on her untouched lunch. She usually loved ham sandwiches, the contrast between the slight bitterness of the yeast in the bread and the sweetness and saltiness of the meat particularly pleasant to what her friends and family referred to as her delicate palate and which was actually acknowledge by her doctor as an overdeveloped sense of taste. Today, however, she did not have the slightest desire for food of any kind.

"We were always just going as friends," she said. "He knows that."

Her mind was rather far from the dance: she had just caught a glance of Steve Heatly, and it had reminded her of the previous day's incident. Mr. Nakamura had defended them, he couldn't be the bad person her father feared he was. Therefore, he couldn't possibly be off because he'd been found and injured by the undercover agent that was supposed to have arrived this morning. Her father's soldiers were the best in the World, they would absolutely not attack an innocent man, and that's what Mr. Nakamura was. It was just a shame that whoever had been sent to check on her gym teacher would waste another day before confirming they had the wrong man.

"Hey, Esuma? That's not Falpis, is it?" Lily suddenly asked.

Esuma looked up and followed Lily's gaze to the ferret that was casually crossing the street towards them. Her eyes widened when she spotted her pet's bright blue and white collar.

"It is!" She gasped, getting up. "How…?"

Her question was interrupted by a screech of tires as a car turned the nearest corner, going well over the speed limit, heading straight for the ferret, who froze.

"FALPIS!" The three girls cried in unison, running uselessly towards the street: they were too far, they would never make it in time.

2

Snake Eyes had spent the morning keeping an eye on Esuma and was still doing just that, perched on a tree near the picnic table she had settled in with her friends, just in case the missing gym teacher suddenly turned up. As of yet, there was no sign of Nakamura, but the time had not been spent quite in vain as it had renewed Snake Eyes's resolution to protect his General's daughter: the girl was the picture of an ideal child. She was not only incredibly beautiful, but also extremely smart, selfless, friendly, funny… it was obvious that the whole school would be in mourning for a very long time if anything happened to her, and rightly so.

Between the fact Esuma was yet unharmed and her apparent crush on the man, Snake Eyes figured Storm Shadow was following his usual policy to not harm women directly, and all he could think was that his brother might be aiming to push the girl to commit suicide instead. The level of emotional pain he'd inflict on her to achieve this made the under cover ninja wince. He couldn't let that happen. If Hawk's suspicions were right, 'Nakamura' was going down the second Snake Eyes laid eyes on him.

The girls' conversation suddenly turned to a ferret that was crossing the road towards them. Just as the animal was identified as Esuma's pet, a speeding car turned the corner, heading straight for what would clearly be a very flat animal in a few seconds. The girls screamed and bolted for the road although it was obvious they wouldn't arrive in time: only a ninja could possibly go fast enough to save the ferret.

Snake Eyes jumped from the tree towards the street and ran for it, half expecting the speeding car to be driven by Storm Shadow. For a teenage girl, losing a pet would certainly be emotionally distressing.

He dove for the ferret and rolled out of the speeding car's way, narrowly avoiding the front wheel. A glance revealed the driver not to be Storm Shadow but a young Caucasian man, who kept rolling away. Snake Eyes got up, the trembling but unharmed pet in his arms.

Esuma ran to him and took the ferret, cradling him into a hug.

"Thank you SO much!" she said, addressing Snake Eyes.

Her eyes were still filled with tears from the fright she'd had, making the rare purple irises shimmer in a way that made Snake Eyes picture himself, rather than Hawk, chasing the boys away from her. He clenched his teeth and dismissed the vision as the result of his being bored out of his mind by his cover job.

"Falpis, you silly thing… what are you doing out?" Esuma scolded gently at the small animal. "Thank you Mr. Smith, thank you so much! Silly ferret…"

/* You're welcome. */

"That means you're welcome, doesn't it?" she asked, still cradling and petting Falpis, who was visibly relaxing.

Snake Eyes felt a pang of jealousy and dismissed it as his missing the last pet he'd had.

"I learned ASL a bit in junior high," Esuma continued, "one of my friends was deaf and mute. She transferred away, though, and we only email and message now, so I haven't practiced in a while. But that's not fair – you can't just say I'm welcome and forget about it, you saved his life! I keep finding myself in debt towards adults, lately," she finished, smiling to show she didn't mean it as a bad thing.

Snake Eyes smiled back.

/* You can repay me by encouraging people not to litter. */

She laughed at that, which earned her curious looks by her friends.

"He said I can repay him for jumping in front of that car to save my ferret by encouraging people not to litter." Esuma translated, still giggling at how unfair a trade that would be.

/* I knew I could make it. I didn't actually take a risk. Really, it's fine. */

Esuma's laugh turned into a smile that would have warmed anyone's heart. Snake Eyes's teeth clenched as he imagined Storm Shadow earning that same smile while planning to turn it into tears of despair. How anyone could even dream of hurting a child as sweet as Esuma was completely beyond him, and he wasn't about to let it happen.

3

Storm Shadow, for his part, spent most of the day thinking even less of himself than his sword brother thought of him. Racno had provided a distraction for part of the morning by raising many questions on Esuma, but thinking so much about her had eventually devolved, much to his disgust, from intellectual curiosity to day dreaming.

He'd spent the rest of the day trying every meditation technique he knew to clear his mind, to no avail. The best he achieved was a renewed resolution that he would keep his feelings so well buried that none would even suspect their existence.

Since staying home to meditate wasn't achieving anything, he resolved to go to work the next day.

4

Like the other teachers, Asanuma Nakamura was required to show up at school at least twenty minutes before the bell and Storm Shadow, being an early riser, was typically among the first ones there.

The morning following his day off was no different. He let himself in the school and headed for the main office to ask that a notice be posted to re-schedule the basketball practice through lunch and the cheerleading practice for after school, to be run at the same time as the Volleyball practice since both groups had things they could practice without direct, focused supervision.

He never made it to the office. He felt the presence just in time to dive to the side and dodge the tip of a broom handle that had been headed straight at the base of his neck and would have knocked him out instantly. He turned to face his opponent and opened his mouth to try and talk to him, but Snake Eyes was on top of him in a second, attacking him with a level of viciousness he'd never seen him display before.

"Wait!"

Storm Shadow jumped backwards to avoid a swipe at his legs.

"Hold on!"

Snake Eyes tried to stab him in the gut with the handle of his broom, but Storm Shadow twisted and dodged. Snake Eyes frowned, annoyed: it was just his luck that Storm Shadow had finally learned to devote some energy to dodging when fighting.

"Look, I'm NOT here for Hawk!" Storm Shadow finished, grabbing the broom handle.

Snake Eyes let go of the broom handle and directed a punch towards Storm Shadow's face. The other ninja dodged again and scowled.

"Fine, 'brother'." He growled. "If that's how you want it…!"

He started attacking too, using the very broom handle Snake Eyes had been trying to stab him with. Snake Eyes dodged the first blow, blocked the second, and they found themselves briefly wrestling over the weapon before Snake Eyes sneaked in a kick to Storm Shadow's arm, weakening his grip, and regained possession of his broom handle.

Storm Shadow switched to attacking with his feet and hands while trying to dodge the broom. He got whacked a few times before suddenly, everything slowed down: the broom handle seemed to suddenly be trying to fight its way through a dense wall, Snake Eyes was moving just as slowly, and so was he.

By contrast, Esuma moved at normal speed and therefore had no difficulty grabbing the broom handle and squeezing herself right between Snake Eyes and himself. She was crying and begging them to stop, apparently completely unaware that she had effectively paralyzed them.

Despite her relative speed, Storm Shadow noticed, much to his disgust, that she was wearing a very pretty white jean skirt with lavender embroidery, matched with a fitted pink and lavender top. He swallowed, tore his eyes away and stepped back, still moving in slow motion. Snake Eyes lowered his weapon and stepped back as well.

"Esuma…" Storm Shadow started.

She turned towards him, her face contorted into pure misery. Storm Shadow's eyes widened and he gulped. Hawk must have warned her about who he might be, and by attacking him, Snake Eyes had confirmed her father was right. She probably thought he was here to hurt her or her dad, and the betrayal from a teacher she trusted hurt her deeply.

"Esuma, I… I don't…"

"Tell me it's not true." She pleaded. "Please, just tell me you're not after me or dad."

"I'm not. I…"

"I knew it." She cut in with a sigh of relief, suddenly smiling through her tears. "I don't know who you used to be, but I do know you're a good person _now_."

Storm Shadow's eyes trailed down, away from hers. As near as he could tell, he hadn't actually changed at all since his previous battle with Snake Eyes, but he had never believed himself to be bad anyway, so he wasn't at all sure what to make of Esuma's judgment.

Snake Eyes, no longer in slow motion, tapped Esuma's shoulder to get her attention.

/* Esuma, he's the one who destroyed the Eiffel Tower. He was trying to wipe out all of Paris, including the people. He also tried to destroy three more major cities, including Washington. He's killed more people than I can count and now, his employer is in custody and he's probably intent on breaking him out. Even if we assume he wasn't planning to actually hurt you, his plan probably involved using you to blackmail General Hawk. He must be stopped. */

Esuma looked horrified all over again and turned back to face Storm Shadow, who sighed and met her eyes.

"I had no such plan. The rest is true but taken out of context. My employer and I believe the World needs order – I've killed a lot less people than poverty, crime and war kill every day."

Esuma's eyes filled with tears and she shook her head in disbelief. Storm Shadow swallowed and broke eye contact again, trying hard not to cry as well. He had had no intention of letting his feelings be known, but he had not imagined he'd lose whatever little affection Esuma had for her teacher and coach. It was clear she did not see things his way, and he knew from experience that she'd condemn him, just like Snake Eyes, just like everyone. Even worse than the pain of losing what meager relationship he'd had with Esuma, however, was the knowledge she was hurt.

"Esuma, I'm sorry I deceived you. Please, don't cry. I never meant to hurt you." He said earnestly.

She shook her head again.

"Oh Mr. Nakamura… what happened to you to make you believe something like that?" She asked in a choked voice. "Your life must have been horrible…"

She turned to Snake Eyes, who staggered back a step under the glare she gave him.

"You were told to find out whether Mr. Nakamura was a threat to me or your General? Well, there you have it, he isn't. NOW LEAVE HIM ALONE! He's trying to start a new life, and you'd just drag him right back down into his old one? You're worse than Javert!"

/* Unlike Jean Valjean, he's not a persecuted reformed small-time thief, Esuma. He's the worst kind of ninja: a cold-blooded murderer. And, I see no reason to believe he's changed. */

"What does it matter if he's a ninja? Besides, you were fighting just as well as he was, so if he's a ninja, so are you! And if he hasn't changed, then he was never a bad person in the first place!" Esuma growled. "He's done nothing but good since he got here!"

Snake Eyes hesitated. If he had been wrong about Storm Shadow's intentions towards Esuma, could he be wrong about his 'last' words being a lie, as well? Was Esuma right? Was Storm Shadow simply a very, very misguided victim of circumstances? In all fairness, he had looked very sorry to have made Esuma cry.

Snake Eyes frowned at himself – that was a grossly unfair understatement. Storm Shadow had looked devastated, horrified. It was painfully obvious he did not want Esuma to be hurt and that his presence here had nothing to do with whose daughter she was. Tommy was just hiding, and had simply stumbled right into the worst possible hiding place for him.

Esuma thought he had never been a bad person in the first place… again, Snake Eyes found himself wondering whether she really was wrong. When you examined the facts with a cool head, what did you see? A mistreated boy and two uncles who took every opportunity to express their hatred towards him. Was it any wonder the boy had not grown up to be a model citizen? And, following his running away from a clan that wanted to kill him, what had the rest of his life been like? Snake Eyes had been living in the street for maybe a week when he'd found the Arashikage, he knew how difficult it was, he knew how people would sooner look the other way than help. How long had Tommy been living that merciless life? Had it all been for nothing? Had the clan judged him too quickly?

/*Brother, */ he asked, /* you were seen running away from the Hard Master when he was killed. If it wasn't you, you must have seen who it was. Tell me. */

Esuma's eyes widened and she held back a gasp. She stepped back so as not to distract the two men: her father's soldier looked willing to talk to Mr. Nakamura, the last thing she wanted was to interrupt them.

"I did, but I can't remember," Storm Shadow answered. "All I see in my mind's eye is the specter of Death; all I know is that I was running from him before I realized the rest of you ALSO wanted to kill me."

/* The killer hypnotized you. */ Snake Eyes guessed.

He sighed and leaned his forehead into his palm, feeling the beginning of a headache. It did seem more probable that a great ninja like the Hard Master had not been murdered by a small boy, but being innocent of that one crime did not excuse all the other atrocities Storm Shadow had committed since. A cruelly miserable childhood and a complete lack of any help at any point in his life, paired with having been manipulated by McCullen, on the other hand, did make it harder to condemn his sword brother.

/* Do you swear to me, on your honor and your father's soul, that you will not do anything that could possibly lead to anybody being hurt, or any property being destroyed, for the next few days? */

"I swear it, on my honor and on my father's and mother's spirits."

/* Fine. You have a few days to convince me you deserve a second chance. */

Snake Eyes turned and left, not waiting for an answer.

5

Esuma was highly distracted for the rest of the day, still reeling from the shock of the morning. She had shuddered violently a few times while thinking of what may have happened if she hadn't arrived early this morning: Mr. Nakamura had been losing that fight… she kept picturing him falling backwards, the light leaving his eyes, several slashes across his mysteriously bare chest and a painful looking hole in the middle of it all.

The thought was intolerable. Mr. Smith was a good person, she knew it from the way he acted and from the fact her father had sent him to protect her. And yet, he had been trying to hurt Mr. Nakamura. Then again, it was only because Mr. Nakamura really was the person her father had feared he might be. But that person was not bad, she just knew it.

Making the whole situation worse was the fact that for some reason, part of her insisted it was connected to her parents. Her usual dream had been running through her head all day, to the point that she had not been able to pay any attention to her classes or to her friends. When she had confided in Marie and Lily that she couldn't stop thinking of her dream, they had both suggested she reconsider hypnosis.

She hung back after her cheerleader practice... she was pretty sure ninjas knew how to hypnotize people, and she'd much rather Mr. Nakamura did it than some stranger who may just as easily be a quack. Racno flew straight to the gym teacher once the other kids were gone, before she had even taken a step in his direction.

Storm Shadow blinked at the dragonfly, extremely surprised it would leave Esuma's side at this time of day just to bug him some more. He followed it with his eyes instinctively and ended up turning around to see that Racno had not really left his mistress: Esuma was but a few steps behind him, looking as surprised as he was at Racno's actions.

He turned fully towards her and their eyes locked. Racno flew back to Esuma, mostly unnoticed except by Falpis, who rolled its eyes at him. Racno lifted his legs in response in a close approximation of a dismissive shrug. Storm Shadow noticed both gestures; Esuma, neither.

She cleared her throat.

"Mr. Nakamura, I'm sorry to bother you, I know it's been a long day…"

He held back a snort and cocked his head, inviting her to continue.

"Can you do hypnosis?" she asked.

"Err… what? I mean, yes, I can, but why…?"

"Could you hypnotize me? There's a dream I keep having, I think it's a blocked memory, but it doesn't actually make sense. It's always around the same time as those headaches, and… well, I'm hoping that if I remember what happened for real, the dream will go away and maybe the headaches, too. I know, it's silly…" she finished, her eyes leaving his as she flushed in embarrassment.

"You still trust me to do that?" he asked, astonished.

She nodded.

"I'd trust you with my life."

Storm Shadow's eyes widened further and his heart started hammering in his chest.

"Snake Eyes would say you are doing just that right now," he remarked.

She cocked her head. "That's Mr. Smith's name? Snake Eyes?"

He nodded.

"He'd also wonder how you can possibly trust me at all after finding out who I was. I swear I didn't know who you were when I came here, and I would never exploit it now that I do."

"I still trust you because I know I wouldn't fall in love with an evil person," she said in one breath, looking at her own feet and blushing bright red. "I… I know I'm too young. I'm not going to pester you or anything, but I really do trust you… with my life, and with this secret."

Storm Shadow had to remind himself to breathe, and if his balance had not been perfect, he would undoubtedly have fallen from the shock. Once his brains started working again, he cursed internally to himself. This was NOT going to make things any easier. Not knowing how to react to her confession, he chose to go back to the main reason she was here.

"Memories are usually blocked for a reason," he said. "Are you sure you want to force this one to the surface? Do you have any idea what it is about?"

Esuma sighed in relief. The fact that he still wanted to help her was as far from a rejection as she could possibly hope considering her age: it meant he still wanted to be friends, and for now, that was more than good enough. She squashed the unreasonable disappointment that she still felt and turned her thoughts back to the request she had made of him.

"It's when my parents died," she said in answer to his last question. "I saw it happened."

His eyes widened again.

"And you want to see it again?" he asked. "Are you sure?"

"I see a version of it where they are killed by some kind of magical monster all the time. I'd rather know the truth… I think the dream keeps coming back because I want to solve its mystery."

Storm Shadow did not hesitate long. He knew well enough that a painful truth is better than a painful lie.

"Very well. When did you want to do this?"

"Please don't feel like you have to, but can we do it now?"

Storm Shadow looked around: they appeared to be completely alone. He suspected Snake Eyes was actually lurking nearby, but if he'd wanted to stop the hypnosis session, he'd already be out of hiding. He nodded at Esuma and walked to the bleachers, motioning her to follow.

He sat her down next to him on the second level, forced his eyes to focus on her face and to stay away from her legs, and took her hands in his.

"The technique I will use is not the one traditionally used by psychiatrists and hypno-therapists," he started. "It is far more efficient in recovering memories, but it was developed as a tool to extract information from enemies."

Snake Eyes, hidden in the shadows, relaxed slightly. He had been worried he'd have to interrupt a session Esuma obviously felt she needed, but Storm Shadow was being completely honest about the process, making an intervention unnecessary.

"When we start replaying the moment that you have blocked from your memory," Storm Shadow continued, "I will live it right along with you, as if we were both in your body at the time. Do you understand?"

Sitting next to him and facing him, she nodded, her expression determined.

"There will also be no filters on the memory. We will relive this event exactly, along with any pain you may have felt, both emotional and physical. Do you understand?"

She nodded again without hesitation.

"Then look into my eyes."

She did so, and he stared into hers, nearly getting lost in them. He set his mind to the task, casting part of his spirit away from his own body and into Esuma's eyes, and started the required chant.

6

She screams their names, unable to move, unable to help. Even her voice barely comes out of her throat.

Her mother and her father are about a stone throw away, right next to the monster that came to kill them, white except for an ugly streak of dirty orange going from his heart to his head. She knows the monster is but a henchman, an envoy of the true evil that has decreed their deaths, but it doesn't make it any less dangerous.

She has to do something, she has to save her parents, but she can't do _anything_. She feels like she has reverted to a helpless child, as though half of her twenty years had never happened.

The monster raises its arms and suddenly, fire erupts everywhere around her parents, blocking them from her view entirely. She hears their screams and the monster's laughter, but again, her own screams seem to die somewhere between her throat and her lips.

The monster's laugh turns to a howl of rage when her parents' screams change to their singing a spell. It's not one she's familiar with, but the words speak of transformation and escape, and she can guess her parents are using their last breath to ensure her safety. A purple ball of light shoots out of the wall of fire, coming straight for her; the monster jumps over the fire, running towards the ball and herself; her parents' voices die as soon as the spell is over as their life is consumed by the fire.

She screams and bounces to her feet, free from the paralyzing spell her parents cast earlier to prevent her from intervening, but before she can take even one step towards them, the purple ball of light engulfs her, and everything stops.

The spell has isolated her from the normal flow of time: the monster's claws are but inches from her, but the beast does not move. Behind it, the flames have stopped as well, and even their heat no longer reaches her. She extends a hand towards the monster's outstretched claws, not really knowing why, just reaching towards something unusual out of instinctive curiosity. Her hand never reaches: before her very eyes, it starts shrinking, and she feels the rest of her body following suit to adopt the disguise chosen by her parents. At the same time, the monster becomes invisible as the purple light engulfs everything. She feels herself propelled forwards in time.

For a long time, the Universe is nothing but purple light. When it finally fades, it leaves nothing but cold and darkness in its place. She cries, terrified, until a pair of big hands picks her up and she finds herself nestled into a warm embrace.

7

Storm Shadow broke the trance, his breathing heavy. He glanced at Racno, who ignored him to brush softly against Esuma's cheek. Falpis nuzzled her side, paying the ninja no mind either.

Esuma's eyes took a while to refocus. When they finally did, she was seized by a violent shiver and she hugged herself with a whimper.

"Esuma? It's alright. Memories cannot harm you… all this is just as much in the past as it was before you remembered it."

"I remembered all along…" Esuma muttered. "There were parts I didn't understand, but all this… it's the dream I've been having, it's the same! I don't understand… they cast a spell! My parents were doing magic, and they were killed by a monster? How is that even possible? Magic's not real! Is it?"

She looked at him pleadingly, as though a word from him would be enough for her World to make sense again.

"Magic is real, but not nearly as common as it used to be," he whispered softly. "I'm sorry. I'm sure this is a lot to swallow."

She laughed nervously.

"I was twenty when they turned me back into a baby… that makes me thirty-six, right? I should be able to handle it like a big girl." She said, her voice shaking on every syllable.

"It doesn't matter how long you've lived; a shock is a shock. I've yet to meet anyone who isn't badly shaken upon discovering magic really does exist, and you've just found out it's at the center of your life."

She started crying then.

"I'm… I'm sorry!" She hiccupped, fruitlessly trying to dry her eyes with her wrists. "I… I just… the monster… monsters aren't real! And this one… he was just… he was just a pawn!"

Storm Shadow swallowed, at a loss over what to do. He wanted to hold her close and kiss the tears away, but he couldn't; he couldn't allow himself these feelings and he most certainly could not act on them, especially now that he knew she returned them.

But he couldn't stand to see her cry like this, confused and frightened, and suddenly feeling as though she was alone in a time where she did not truly belong, feeling as though her whole childhood was but an illusion, the disguise of a runaway woman who had been twenty years old already when the deception had started, when she'd been given the appearance of a baby again.

Twenty, or thirty-six… how could one stay calm when something as basic as one's age turned out to be a lie?

His eyes widened. Her age was a lie… Esuma was not sixteen! Even accepting that she could hardly have matured much repeating her early childhood, she had also lived through her late childhood twice, and that had to count for something, so she was, in equivalence, over twenty. Even without counting any added maturity for her second life at all, which he felt was not reasonable anyway, she was still twenty...it certainly explained her maturity level. Young adult or not, however, she was desperately in need of comfort, she was desperately in need of knowing it was going to work out, that she was not alone in this.

He pulled her close, titled her head back and kissed her soaked cheeks, edging upwards towards her eyes, taking the salty tears away, hoping against hope that removing the evidence of her distress would make her better.

Esuma's eyes popped open wide and her shaking subsided instantly. His eyes met hers and he cupped her chin with his palms, slowly moving towards her lips to give her all the time she could need to stop him, protest, or give any sign that she did not want this.

She closed her eyes and moved into the kiss. Their lips met and all the horror she had just experienced suddenly seemed like a fair price to pay for the bliss she felt now. His lips tasted like dark chocolate, bitter and sweet all at once, alluring and intoxicating. She let herself fall against him when their lips parted, finding refuge, peace and happiness in the strong arms that gently held her just tightly enough.

"When we're alone," she asked softly, "can I call you Asanuma?"

"Absolutely not!" he said sternly.

She pulled away just enough to look up at him in surprise. He chuckled.

"It'd be like you're talking to someone else," he explained. "My name is Tommy."

8

Snake Eyes had had to use all his willpower not to jump on Storm Shadow and violently drag him away from Esuma when the two kissed.

She'd said something about being turned back into a baby when she was twenty, and he knew the hypnotic trance Storm Shadow had used would only reveal the truth, so for now, he had to assume that this was indeed the case and that Esuma could be argued to be an adult.

Beyond the legal technicalities of their relationship, however, he simply knew better than to try and take something away from a teenager and expect them to give up on it. If he was to interfere, to get between Tommy and Esuma, her feelings for him would only grow stronger. It was better to content himself with keeping an eye on things and making sure they didn't go beyond a few kisses and hugs.

At least, Storm Shadow seemed to genuinely care for her in return. It seemed everybody around him was finding love, lately… a fact that did not excuse the irritating feeling of jealousy he was suddenly feeling. He hardened himself against it and set it his mind to concentrate on his duties.


	7. Chapter 7: The Soft Master

A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed, please continue!

Those who haven't reviewed yet, please do this time! I really want to know what you think, good or bad! Reviews are highly motivating to writers!

1

Storm Shadow was back in his office, attempting to calm himself down with paperwork before going back home, when Snake Eyes slammed the door opened and stood in the frame, glaring at him with his fists clenched.

"She's over twenty," Tommy said. "Go away."

/* You're disgusting. */

"No, I'm not," Tommy snarled. "Which part of this are you not getting? She's an adult!"

/* That IS the part I don't get! How can she be an adult if she was a tiny baby when she was adopted 16 years ago? */

"Her parents were attacked in her presence when she was twenty. They used a spell to change her back into a baby and transport her into the future to get her away from danger and disguise her. I don't know why they felt they had to make her so hard to find that sending her into the future was necessary, and I don't know how long ago this actually happened. Presumably back when magic was a bit more commonplace."

Snake Eyes crashed into a chair.

/* That would be the dark ages, wouldn't it? */

Storm Shadow nodded.

"Most likely."

/* Swear to me you will not hurt her. */

"Again?"

/* You swore you wouldn't hurt anyone or anything for a few days this morning. Now I want your word that you will NEVER hurt her, in particular. */

Storm Shadow's eyes narrowed.

"Are you blind?" he snarled. "Of course I won't! What kind of monster do you think I am?"

/* You tried to wipe Paris off the surface of the Earth. Not to mention… */

"I really wish you'd get over that. Four cities to save a civilization isn't a bad deal."

/* Swear. */

Storm Shadow sighed heavily and hung his head.

"I swear on all I cherish that I will not hurt the woman I love and in so doing make my own life unbearable," he recited. "Happy?"

/* Not really. */

Snake Eyes pointed at his eyes and then at Storm Shadow to signify that he'd be watching, and left. Storm Shadow rolled his eyes at his back and sat back down at his desk, still needing to calm down, although the problem had changed from his being flustered over Esuma to his being furious with his sword brother.

2

To Esuma, the remaining days to the homecoming game and the dance were a happy blur. "Mr. Nakamura" and she obviously had to act normal whenever other people were around, but they still sneaked in a glance or a sign every now and then, and even when he was perfectly in character and treating her exactly like he would a normal student, the simple knowledge that it was an act transformed it into something incredibly romantic. Anything he did and say had a secret meaning, meant just for her. The fact that their love was forbidden made it an exciting adventure in which she knew they would ultimately be triumphant. Even Falpis' unexplainable daily appearances at school somehow seemed to fit right in by adding another element of mystery to her life.

Today, the day before the big game and the homecoming dance, she forced herself to concentrate on the basket balls she was shooting in her regular gym class. Tommy was going around as Mr. Nakamura, correcting stances, giving advice and shooting a few hoops himself to demonstrate. She knew, of course, that the ninja would be able to hit his target were he shooting upside down and blind folded, but he was making every shot an example, putting himself in the best position, looking straight at the basket, and throwing a perfectly graceful curve that went through the ring without so much as brushing it. She caught herself staring somewhere between his back and his legs and quickly turned her head back to the basket she was trying to get a ball into.

"Esuma? Are you okay? Why are you red?" Diane, next to her, asked.

Esuma felt her cheeks flaring even more and finally figured the only way out was to hide the truth behind another.

"Those pants just look really good on him," she stammered, forcing a giggle.

"Why thank you, Miss Yr," she heard from right behind her.

Her eyes widened and this time, she had to make an effort NOT to giggle and to look completely mortified instead. She turned around, forcing her eyes down. They landed in the worst possible spot and she hurriedly brought them back up to Tommy's face.

He was trying very hard to look stern, and she supposed that it was working on everybody else, but his eyes gave away a hidden smirk.

"If you're quite done admiring my clothes, how about trying to shoot the ball? Let me see your form."

"With all due respect, Sir," Cassey piped in from one basket over, "I don't think she was admiring your clothes."

A chorus of laughter answered that, and then died instantly from Tommy raising one hand. Esuma's face was on fire by then, not so much from Cassey's joke as because when he had said he wanted to see her form, she had automatically thought of something else entirely than her basketball shooting technique.

"That's quite enough of that," Mr. Nakamura said firmly. "Everyone, back to practicing your shots. That includes you, Miss Yr."

She got in position, forced her mind to focus on the orange ball and on the basket, and took her shot. It bounced a bit on the rim but went in.

"Not bad," Mr. Nakamura said. "I think you'll do even better if you don't get distracted. Carry on."

He turned to Diane and the class continued. Esuma stole another glance at the white form just as Diane's ball streaked past him, having bounced wildly on the rim of the basket: a streak of orange against the white clothes.

Her eyes widened briefly. The orange… it didn't belong there, it never had. Until that night, there had been no orange, no monster...

3

_Years ago_

She holds on to his body, screaming his name, to no avail. Her love, the most important person to her in the whole World, lies dead in her arms, lost forever.

She looks up at the one who did it and her tears redouble: their best friend, tarnished and sent to kill both of them. She doesn't believe her odds of survival are very good and at this point, she doesn't care much, but what will happen to him once he's done his job? Will whatever mad sorcerer who did this to him continue to enslave him, ripping apart his soul by sending him to commit countless atrocities? Will he release him instead to let him live with the memory of what he's done and thus torture him for the rest of his life?

She stares at the changed form: the sorcerer, perhaps to mock his taste for white clothing, has turned her friend into a white monster, breaking the pure color by just one streak of dirty orange linking his head and his heart; a symbol that both his mind and his soul are chained.

The monster that was once her friend bares its teeth in a ferocious grin and raises an arm towards her. She closes her eyes and grips her fiancé's body tighter, waiting for the blow.

Instead, a cool sensation washes over her. Her eyes pop back opened in surprise and she finds herself pulled away from her lover's body, encased in a protective bubble and unable to move. Between the monster and herself, her parents have appeared in full battle gear.

She tries to scream but no sound comes out. She watches, helplessly, as her parents and her best friend start fighting to the death.

4

The present came slowly back in focus and Diane's ball continued its course towards the middle of the gym. Esuma shook her head clear and took another shot while Diane ran after her ball. She missed the basket entirely.

Tommy caught the ball and gave it back to her with a puzzled look.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "I got distracted."

He nodded and although his eyes still showed some concern, he turned his attention back to the returning Diane.

The rest of the day went without incident. After her last class, she headed straight for his office. She had resisted doing that on most days, but today, with that horrible vision still dancing in her mind, she needed to be with someone who understood her.

She found him going over some plays for the following day's game. She knocked and smiled at him through the window on his door. He smiled back and motioned her in.

"I'm sorry, am I bothering you?" she asked.

He got up for an answer and hugged her.

"What happened in the gym? Did the dream come back? Are you alright? No headache?" He touched her forehead as he said it, checking for a fever.

"Not the dream, no. A prequel to it," she answered with a nervous giggle. Her voice then lowered to barely a whisper that threatened with each word to break into sobs. "I… that monster killed my fiancé… but he was our friend, he was just being used. He was all white, with this one streak of orange, and you reminded me of him when Diane's ball went flying past you. I saw my parents kill him, and I think they did him a favor… do you really think this is real?"

"I have no idea," he said gently, caressing her cheek. "What we saw the other day was real, but I can't speak to anything else. However…" he hesitated.

"Why would I get a vision like that if it wasn't a memory coming back?" she finished for him.

She closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around him. He hugged her back, pressing her close against him from her waist to the tip of her head. She held on to him for a long time, allowing herself to believe, for a few precious minutes, that as long as she was holding him, she could not possibly lose him.

5

The next day, as far as Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes were concerned, was sheer madness. The whole school was positively shaking with excitement, the basketball players and Mr. Nakamura were being treated like gods descended from above, and not a single person wore anything else than white, lavender and pink. Even the custodians, including Snake Eyes' alter-ego John Smith, had been given special uniforms, mostly white with the school's coat of arms stamped on the chest and the sleeves.

Anybody belonging to a sports team or the cheerleading squad – which had expanded to 15 members in the couple of weeks Mr. Nakamura had been there – wore their uniform all day. Esuma and the other girls were getting almost as much adoration as the players, and Storm Shadow had found himself having a bit of difficulty not reacting to all the boys staring at Esuma. He kept telling himself he couldn't actually blame them, especially when she was wearing a short pleated skirt and a bare-midriff top, but it was difficult to resist glaring at them all.

The electricity in the air was intoxicating and by the time the game started, Storm Shadow could have sworn he was coaching at the World Championship, so disproportionate did the excitement seem.

The crowd had not let up cheering, whistling and screaming throughout the whole game and if nothing else, Storm Shadow had felt his players were giving a good show: they were only ten points behind, up from 20 at half time, when the timer ran out. It was the closest thing to a victory the school had seen in years, but understandably, the crowd's initial reaction had been disappointment.

And then, Esuma had led the cheerleaders in an improvised chant, complete with the best moves they had learned, to congratulate the team on a great game. She had been magnificent: a vision in pink, white and lavender, singing a spell-binding chant with a voice as pure and beautiful as a mermaid's, dancing with the grace and fluidity of a feather fluttering in the breeze. The crowd had gone wilder than ever and the players had grinned and literally puffed up, the shame of losing rightfully replaced by the pride of having done their best.

The crowd was gone now, and Mr. Nakamura was leaning on the door of the change room. The players hardly needed the supervision: they were practically numb from the thrill of the game and the cheers, and unless you counted grinning like idiots, they weren't likely to do anything that could remotely be interpreted as troublesome.

A knock on the door startled him out of a rather pleasant day dream. He cracked opened the door to see who it was, and the Director beamed at him from the other side, gesturing him out. Storm Shadow slipped out, smiling politely, expecting congratulations on the game.

"You're one of the school's heroes, now," the Director said, smiling. "There will be a riot if you don't join the celebration, so I really must ask you to come to the dance tonight. I know, I know, bunch of teenagers with loud music, but they'll be really disappointed if you don't show. So, is there any reason you can't come?"

Storm Shadow kept an impassive face, although he was grinning inside: going to the dance meant spending more time close to Esuma. He knew she was going with one of the boys, but he couldn't care less: she'd still be there, laughing and smiling and possibly dancing – most definitely worth putting up with a party, especially considering her beauty, natural grace and agility made it easy to guess that the sight of Esuma's dancing would be a wondrous one.

"No, sir," he said. "I don't have any other pressing plans… if it'll make the kids happy, I'll stay for the dance, no problem."

The Director's smiled widened and he slapped him amiably on his shoulder.

"Wonderful! Have a great time, Asanuma!"

Storm Shadow smiled at the man's back, certain he was indeed going to enjoy the homecoming dance, blissfully unaware that the spectre of Death was hunting for him that night.

6

Storm Shadow sat with the other chaperones at a table located near the middle of the sitting area of the dance hall. Esuma was even lovelier than he had expected: she had changed into a gorgeous silky white and lavender dress that seemed to have been designed for her and her alone, and she had braided a pink ribbon into her hair to stunning effect. She was flanked by her friends Lily and Marie, who had decided to just accompany each other; by Racno, who was making himself discrete by pretending to be an ornament on her purse; and by the Goodkind boy, Matthew. She flashed him a smile when she saw him looking their way, imitated by the other three teens, and he politely smiled and waved back.

Cartwell, sitting a couple of chairs down from him, chuckled. Storm Shadow shot him a glare before he could help himself. The geography teacher gulped and leaned away a bit, but almost immediately regained his composure when Mr. Nakamura changed his expression from a death stare to a mildly annoyed glance.

"Yikes, Nakamura," Cartwell said. "If looks could kill, I wouldn't want to take you on."

"Sorry, I just have things on my mind."

"You shouldn't call your students 'things'," Mark Brown said in a mock preaching tone.

Storm Shadow carefully kept his expression neutral.

"I'm sorry to say I did not in fact mean the students. I'm afraid I'm not much of a chaperone: my mind is wandering."

"Oh, come off it," Cartwell said. "She looks gorgeous tonight and you just don't want to admit you're not downright blind."

The MC started talking then, and Storm Shadow did not get a chance to answer, which he didn't mind all that much: he couldn't really think of much of a response other than telling the other two men to lay off his girlfriend, and that was of course out of the question.

"All right people!" the MC bellowed into his mike, "I'm told we got all our amazing athletes here, and all our cheerleaders, and even our awesome new coach. Big hand, everyone!"

Everyone clapped. The players and the cheerleaders waved around with big grins, prompting Nakamura to smile and wave as well.

"And now…" the MC said, pausing for effect in a very blatant way, "we have an annual tradition here, that we hold very dear."

Most of the students started cheering, obviously familiar with said tradition. Cartwell and Brown snickered at Nakamura, who suddenly felt a bit worried.

"Athletes of any teams, cheerleaders, Mr. Nakamura; if you would all please join me here at the centre of the dance floor."

The players and the cheerleaders obediently moved to the centre of the floor and Storm Shadow, following some insisting motions from Esuma and several others, got up as well, now wondering just what he had allowed himself to get roped into.

"All riiiiighht!" The MC said. "So allow me to explain, for those of us who don't know, the fine tradition that is the Team Dance! Each of our beloved athletes, cheerleaders and their coach will draw names out of the opposite gender's hat and dance, to cement their union for the rest of the year. We have more girls than boys this year, so I'm afraid some of the boys will have to dance twice. It's going to be random draws, sorry girls, you won't get to choose even if you go second," he finished, winking at Mr. Nakamura, which generated various cat calls and hoots of laughter.

The MC presented the hat containing the boys' names to one of the female athletes. She drew two names out of it, the first one becoming her partner and the second being the next boy to get to draw. That boy drew two girls' names in the same fashion: his partner and the next girl to draw.

Most of the boys were already spoken for when Esuma's turn came, including Matthew. She discretely crossed her fingers behind her back and drew, keeping her face as neutral as she could. She smiled when she saw the name and turned to the other girls who had not drawn yet.

"Sorry guys," she said. "I got Mr. Nakamura!"

There was a chorus of disappointed "Awh!" from the girls who still had to be paired and had hoped to end up with the handsome coach and from the boys who had hoped to end up with the pretty cheerleader.

Storm Shadow graciously offered his arm to Esuma, plastering what he hoped was a purely polite smile on his face. Unnoticed by anyone else than Tommy and Esuma, Racno buzzed approvingly from Esuma's purse. Once everyone was partnered, except for the few girls whose names had not been drawn before all the boys were taken and who would have their turn next, the MC signalled the DJ and a slow song Storm Shadow recognized for being particularly popular lately started playing.

It was a strange feeling – dancing with Esuma was certainly nice, but having to dance to a romantic song while pretending to be a friendly but utterly unromantically attached teacher was tricky to say the least.

Tommy put one hand on Esuma's shoulder and held one of hers with his other one. She put her free hand a bit above his waist and to any observer, they danced as though it was an amusing formality and nothing more.

No one but the secret couple thought anything of the fact the light made Esuma's gown and Mr. Nakamura's suit shine in such a way that it looked as though their auras filled the gap between their bodies; no one but Esuma could see that Mr. Nakamura's smile was not quite his usual one but a more tender version; and no one but Tommy could see that Esuma's pupils were dilated with love, joy and happiness as she gazed at him.

Everyone, however, heard the door to the gymnasium-turned-dance-hall slam open. Those who turned to see who had made such a noisy entrance only saw a blur that dove straight for Mr. Nakamura, who was suddenly standing alone, having shoved Esuma away from himself.

Storm Shadow knew he could either get Esuma away or brace himself, but that he would not have time for both. He pushed the girl he loved away and consequently, was completely defenceless against the Soft Master's tackle. His head hit the floor first, and then the wall as the momentum from his uncle made them slide into it.

The two blows were far from soft, and Storm Shadow found his vision clouded by black stars that he knew would expand to block everything else as he lost consciousness. He struggled to stay awake, willing the darkness away.

"For the murder of my brother," the Soft Master snarled. "tonight, you die!"

Storm Shadow tried to protest, but the older man's hands closed on his throat and the words died before they passed his lips. He heard Esuma scream right before the black stars exploded and the World slipped away.


	8. Chapter 8: Murderer

**Chapter 8: Murderer**

**A/N:** Look at that, a new chapter already! I hurried, just because I had a cliffhanger. I spoil you guys. And since I spoil you, won't you spoil me back a bit? Review, please! I just might continue to write faster and faster!

Don't make me pretend to cry at the negative review I got before you let me know YOU like the story (or what you like and what you don't like)! I mean, I'm starting to think all those of you who faved the story only did it as a joke or something.

Anyway, speaking of negative review, it raised some questions that others may have too, so here are the answers:

Review: First off, though he once took a job, he would never be a gym teacher. He's not "legally" qualified  
A: He's a clandestine ninja. I think he can manage to fake some papers, and I took pain to point out the school had been desperate for a while.

Review: Secondly, the Hard Master loved Tomisaburo very much. And he is Tommy's father's brother. His mom is American. The Hard Master would never disrespect the spirit of his brother. Especially by mistreating Tommy.  
A: This is movie verse, where the exact relationship between Tommy and the Hard Master was not disclosed. Since Tommy is shown to speak Korean, the Japanese-American scenario seemed out anyway, and the Hard Master did not show much love for his nephew. I'm not trying to follow the comics with this story, else Snake Eyes would end up with Scarlett and Ripcord would turn white. As for the mistreatment being disrespectful of Tommy's parents' spirits, the Hard Master feels keeping the hated child (who he feels is responsible for his mother's (The Hard Master's sister's) death) alive, fed and trained fulfills those obligations, as explained in chapter 2.

Review: Purple eyes are not natural on humans. There are blue eyes that seem purple, but no true purple eyes.

A: I know. I actually have a very good reason for Esuma's unusual coloring, which will be revealed later.

OK, almost done yakking away here… just wanted to ask you, if you disagree with that negative review, please direct all comments towards ME, they'll cheer me up a lot more than if you send them to the reviewer! I won't even see them if you do that and besides, we've talked and we're cool.

1

_Japan, 19 years ago_

Tommy waited by the door of the market, his flesh covered in goose bumps from the cold of the late fall morning, his entire body shivering. He'd have to will himself to stop when the door opened so his movements would not be shaky as he strolled in the market to steal some food, hopefully without having to fight for it, but until then, the natural reflex kept him just a bit warmer so he allowed it.

He reflected that he'd have to find better clothes later today, and maybe a jacket with a hood, and automatically started running through the various possible stores he could take them from in his head, already imagining what it would feel like to be warm and dry again.

It was kind of funny how natural stealing felt by now. He had only lost his home six months earlier, but it seemed a lifetime away. His thoughts drifted back to that home, on a day that, like today, threatened with the first snow of winter.

1.5

_Japan, Arashikage Home, 24 years ago_

Tommy was in the middle of his routine and had just managed a particularly nice blow to the head of the training dummy when the voice of the Hard Master thundered from the hallway, behind him.

The eight year old ninja in training immediately stopped what he was doing to kneel and bow to his Master. He knew the tone for being the one he most often heard from his uncle and Master: it was the tone that said he was in trouble.

"The Soft Master told me what you've done," the Hard Master said with a snarl. "Accursed child! Why did you have to be born a copy of your father?"

Tommy gulped, his head spinning as he tried both to remember what he had done wrong lately and to come up with an apology that wouldn't reveal he had no idea what he was apologizing for. He knew from experience that "I'm sorry" never cut it with the Hard Master: you had to give precise details on how sorry you were, for what actions, and why those actions were regrettable.

He settled for playing the odds.

"I'm sorry I was disrespectful, Hard Master. I did not mean to be, I spoke without thinking. Please allow me to make amends so that I may lift the weight of my guilt from my heart."

The blow caught him right under the chin. His jaw clenched shut, his teeth snapping together like a spring loaded trap, nipping a small piece of his tongue and chipping his front teeth.

The pain made his vision blur. He stayed down as he had fallen, his mouth opened with his tongue hanging, bleeding profusely on the wooden floor. He jerked back when he realized he was getting the floor dirty and pressed his arm to his mouth in an effort to contain his blood.

He was grabbed by his collar and his face brought right in front of his uncle's, who looked even angrier than he had before.

"Not only do you have no idea which one of your silly doings today has wrought the displeasure of the Soft Master and myself, you try to deceive me by pretending you DO know?"

The tone was both disgusted and incredulous, and the Hard Master had murder in his eyes. Most children would readily assume that their parents or guardians are not actually going to kill them, an assumption brought on by the knowledge that they are, despite any trouble they may be in, loved. Tommy on the other hand knew quite well that he wasn't loved at all and therefore could make no such reassuring assumption on what was going to happen next. At this precise moment, with his tongue bleeding on his arm, his teeth chipped and his jaw hurting, held up uncomfortably by a furious Hard Master, he was completely aware that there was a distinct possibility he'd be dead within the next few minutes.

He started crying and begging for forgiveness, not quite sure what he was saying but quite determined to say enough of it for his uncle to grow a bit less angry.

"Dear sister," the Hard Master sighed, addressing the spirit of Tommy's departed mother, "I will not be able to put up with this monster much longer."

He let go then, letting his nephew fall back to the floor. Tommy immediately went back into a full kneeling bow, bleeding some more on the floor. The Hard Master felt his fists clench; was there absolutely no way to teach this boy anything? He bent down and roughly shoved Tommy's sleeve back over his mouth before slapping him hard on the back of the head.

Tommy held back a gasp as his own teeth sank into his arm and stayed still, waiting to be told to speak or sent for punishment.

"Out," the Hard Master said. "Right now. You will go meditate in the waterfall until dinner time."

Tommy shivered at the mere thought – it wasn't even lunch time yet, dinner was not for hours and at this time of the year, the waterfall was freezing.

"Yes, Master," he said, bowing. He went outside and, as if to mock him, a few snowflakes started falling from the skies. He ran more than he walked to the waterfall, hoping to warm up enough that he'd retain some heat under the water.

He knew the instant he stepped into the stream that it hadn't worked. Even with only his feet and calves in the water, his teeth started rattling. He gamely walked right under the waterfall, each step a struggle against the natural reflex of trying to get out of the cold water, and felt himself stiffening from the cold. He settled in position and tried to think of something else than of how cold he was: he needed to figure out what he'd done wrong.

1 (continued)

_Japan, 19 years ago_

Tommy couldn't suppress a deep shiver as he ran, away from the man who had actually ordered the lunch he had just stolen: a bowl of ramen to go, with pork. It had been ages since he'd eaten ramen, and on a cold day like today, he'd been unable to resist, especially when the merchant had put a lid on the bowl, making it so much easier to carry without spilling.

He chanced a look back: neither the merchant who was out the money from the sale, nor the man who now faced having to wait for another bowl to be prepared were pursuing, and he couldn't see anyone else running towards him, either. He slowed down gradually and settled in a quiet corner of the market to eat.

His mind went back to the reason he had violently shivered: the memory of the waterfall. He never had figured out what he had done wrong that day; all he remembered is getting drowsier and drowsier, and waking up in his bed. He'd been told that he had been found passed out in the stream, saved from drowning solely from the way he had happened to slump, leaning against a rock with his head above water. Neither the Hard Master nor the Soft Master had brought up the incident again, nor did they need to: they had new reasons to be angry with him almost immediately anyway. He'd had no end of trouble warming up and staying awake, even once he was dry and back inside; as a result, he'd been unable to keep up with his chores and lessons for several days, constantly blacking out or just collapsing, not to mention nearly constantly shivering.

The memory stayed with him as he walked to his current home: a condemned building scheduled to be demolished. He jumped the fence and climbed to the space he had claimed on the sixth floor. He'd had to fight the other squatters for it, but they had been smart enough to leave him alone since.

He wrapped himself in the thin blanket he had found a few days earlier and let his mind wander as he looked through the cracks of his window. There was no question that he had been a terrible burden for his family, and he had never gotten to a point where his behavior could be deemed acceptable by them… maybe he deserved this hard life.

A few snowflakes drifted by, as if to agree with him by echoing the day of the waterfall. He scowled at them.

"Oh yeah?" he muttered. "Fine. I won't complain. You'll see… I'll STILL grow up to be the best."

2

_- The Present -_

Esuma watched in horror. It was happening again, someone she loved was about to be killed right before her eyes! This time, however, she wasn't helpless: she wasn't paralyzed, she could act. She didn't have to let this happen.

Her first reflex was to throw something and she had nothing else she could use as a projectile, so she threw her purse at the man strangling Tommy. Just as she did, Racno glowed and the light from the dragonfly seemed to penetrate her hand. She had no time to question what was happening: the purse left her hand and flew towards her target, propelled by a gust of wind that seemed to emanate from her own self. It hit the old man square in the head, with such force as to make him tumble off his victim and release his throat.

The Soft Master turned towards the direction the purse had come from and his eyes immediately landed on the girl who had thrown it. His eyes widened before narrowing in anger.

"Aren't you a proof that monsters come in all shapes and sizes... If you are his ally, you are my enemy!"

He launched himself at her, hatred reflected in every line of his face. Esuma screamed and just managed to dodge the tackle, but the old ninja simply changed directions and grabbed her by the throat, lifting her from the ground.

The hold was short-lived: awakened by Esuma's scream, Storm Shadow tackled his uncle and, using a pressure point to make it go limp, pried his hand off the throat of the girl he loved. The Soft Master turned his attention back to him and the two fought briefly.

The fight was grossly uneven. Esuma was not expert at martial arts, but she could tell Tommy's movements weren't fully coordinated: he was obviously still groggy from the blows to his head and the strangling. Before she could even get up from the floor, the older man threw Storm Shadow head first into a wall. There was a sickening crack and the white-clad ninja slumped to the floor, leaving a blood trail against the wall.

Esuma heard what few students had not run away yet scream as they finally rushed out, but she heard it as though they were in a different Universe: distant, irrelevant. Her eyes, her ears, all her senses were centered on the red trail on the wall and on the man she loved crumpled on the floor at the end of it, by all appearances lifeless.

There was no thought behind what she did next: it was through sheer mindless reaction that she threw herself at the attacker. Sadly, he had been expecting it and received her in his arms, squeezing her, crushing her chest, oblivious to her increasingly weak punches and kicks. She couldn't breathe, and the World was growing darker and darker.

The Soft Master, snarling in rage, kept tightening his grip, intent on crushing the life out of the girl. Almost there, she was going limp and her skin was starting to turn blue… he suddenly screamed in pain and released his grip, staring in disbelief at the shurikens imbedded in his arms as he let Esuma fall to the floor, where she stayed on her hands and knees, panting and wincing with each breath.

In the doorway of the gym, his silhouette so dark against the brightly lit hallway that he could have been wearing his usual black suit and mask, stood Snake Eyes, several more shurikens shining in each hand, ready to be thrown.

"You're letting her age and her appearance fool you, Snake Eyes," the Soft Master growled. "She defended him."

Snake Eyes stepped out of the doorway, revealing a custodian's uniform enhanced with his usual straps and pouches holding all his weapons.

/* I'm sorry, Soft Master, but I will defend this girl with my life, even against you. */

The Soft Master's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Why?" he asked. He looked as though he was burning to elaborate, but he didn't.

/* I'm under orders to do so, for one thing. Also, I know her to be good: her attempting to protect Storm Shadow is more a sign that our opinion of him needs to be revised than a sign of a hidden darkness within her. */

The Soft Master snorted angrily.

"So, you would prevent me from avenging your Master for the sake of a teenaged girl? Have your forgotten your vow to kill my brother's murderer? You have sworn to kill Storm Shadow for his crime, and yet you prevent me from relieving you of that oath? Very well, your traitorous attack ensures your victory tonight: I can't fight you with these," he said, lifting his arms to show the throwing stars in them.

He walked right past Snake Eyes and out of the door, not even looking at him, his expression one of utter disgust.

While they were talking, Esuma had made her way to Storm Shadow. From up close, she could see he was still breathing and let out a cry of relief. She slipped a hand under his neck, trying to feel for his injury without moving his head, and found the bleeding wound just under where his head leaned on the wall.

She needed something to bandage him, or at least press against the wound to stem the bleeding. She looked around, but all the decorations were plastic, and the tablecloths were paper. She looked down at her dress then, determined to rip the fabric she needed from it, and gasped in shock.

Her dress had changed: from the white and lavender silk that flowed gracefully to just below her knees to a deep green material she could not identify but that felt light as air and shimmered as if imbued of a life of its own, that only covered part of her thighs. She had no time to admire the effect: she seized the material and yanked, easily ripping a large strip and turning the already fairly short dress to something barely decent.

Not that she noticed. She folded the fabric and pressed it against the back of Tommy's head as hard as she could. Racno fluttered over and landed on her hand, and suddenly, for reasons she could not explain, she wished Sop was here.

She heard the old man who had attacked them leave and turned to Snake Eyes, intent on thanking him. He was about to leave too.

"Stop!" she begged. "Don't leave!"

Snake Eyes stopped and turned around, walking awkwardly towards the pair.

/* I'm sorry, */ he signed. /* I wrote to let him know I had found his nephew, but I never expected him to attack. I told him I was taking care of things. */

"You knew how he felt and you told him where Tommy was?" she asked.

Snake Eyes's heart sank: she sounded betrayed, hurt.

/* I'm sorry. Esuma, you need to understand… up to recently, Storm Shadow was a very, very dangerous man, and the Soft Master has every right to seek revenge on him. Just because I'm willing to believe he might be innocent doesn't mean everyone must. */

"What happened to innocent until proven guilty?" she asked bitterly, still pressing the mysterious green material to Storm Shadow's wound. "And how can you believe it anyway? Which one of them do you think acted like a villain tonight?"

Storm Shadow stirred at that point and muttered something about not being a villain.

"Tommy!" Esuma cried. "Can you hear me? Can you open your eyes?"

He groaned and looked at her blearily.

"Wings?" he asked.

"What?" she asked.

"Your back…" he muttered, still clearly mostly out of it. "Wings. Look like dragonfly's."

Esuma felt on her back and confirmed the green dress did indeed have wings. Storm Shadow's comment on dragonfly made something click in her head and she suddenly could fit the pieces together. She turned to Racno.

"You did that!" she exclaimed. "That wind, it WAS coming from me! You… you passed some kind of magic to me when you glowed! And my dress is a side effect, isn't it?"

Racno bobbed up and down in nod-like way, but Storm Shadow groaned in pain and Esuma's attention snapped back to him.

"Snake Eyes, hold the bandage against his head a minute, I need to call an ambulance."

Snake Eyes obediently switched places with her and, assuming the phone she'd had in her purse was broken and having no time to try and locate said purse anyway, she ran to the payphone located just outside the door to the gym, but she heard sirens just outside just as she was starting to dial 9-1-1. She saw Lily and Marie running back towards the gym.

"Esuma!" they cried upon seeing her. They broke into tearful grin and mauled her into a group hug.

"We're so sorry, we tried to stay!" Marie said.

"The others dragged us off!" Lily added.

"We called the cops and told them we needed an ambulance, too. I think that's them."

"Is Mr. Nakamura okay?"

"What happened to your dress?"

Esuma swallowed and shook her head. The other two girls gasped and automatically started crying, assuming the worst.

"He's alive!" Esuma said quickly. "He's got a nasty concussion. I… my dress is a long story, and I'm not sure I know what that story is yet. I'll tell you about it later, okay? Don't mention it to the cops or the medics."

They both enthusiastically nodded and the three went back in the gymnasium. The medics and the cops erupted in mere seconds later, and Storm Shadow, who had passed out again, was carefully whisked away.

3

Storm Shadow woke up in a hospital room to find both Esuma and Snake Eyes sitting by the bed. Snake Eyes was reading a paper, but Esuma had her eyes fixed on his and grinned when he opened them.

"How's your head?" she asked, gently brushing his temple with her hand.

"It's not bad right now," he said, slowly and carefully sitting up. "How did you get permission to both stay?"

"We didn't. We snuck back in after hours," she admitted, smiling sheepishly. "Ninjas really do come in handy."

Snake Eyes buffed his nails on his chest.

"Your dress changed back," Storm Shadow remarked.

"Yes, it went back by itself about an hour ago."

Storm Shadow's eyes widened. "An hour? How long was I out?"

"Nearly four hours," Esuma said gently. "The doctors said you were lucky… they've seen blows like that be fatal."

Her voice broke near the end and she suddenly bent over him and hugged him gently, as though she were afraid to break him. "I was so worried," she whispered.

Snake Eyes cleared his throat and they both turned to him.

/* I've had enough of this uncertainty. I want to hypnotize you and find out who killed our Master, */ he signed, addressing Storm Shadow.

Esuma pulled away just enough to look at Tommy's face.

"Do you think you're well enough?"

He nodded without hesitation. With the Soft Master hot on his trail and having obviously decided Esuma was his enemy as well, he could not afford not to do everything he could to make his sword brother an ally.

Snake Eyes traded places with Esuma and the two ninjas got into position. Storm Shadow, guessing Snake Eyes would prefer not to break his oath of silence, recited the chant himself while the other man merely mouthed it.

3.5

_Japan, 19 years ago_

Out of sheer force of habit, The Hard Master narrowed his eyes when he saw his nephew, who was practicing with a double sword. The little monster didn't seem to be up to anything bad, for once, but he WAS practicing offensive moves only, as usual. The old ninja master sighed: he owed it to his sister to train the child, as hopeless a task as it was.

"Tomisaburo!" he growled. "How many times must I tell you to also practice de…"

Tommy's head whipped around in surprise as the last word was cut short by a soft gasp, just in time to see his uncle fall forward, a sword through his heart and death in his eyes. His eyes went from the sword to the hand that released it as he watched, up the orange sleeve to the smiling face of his other uncle, who chuckled at him.

"MURDERER!" the Soft Master screamed from behind his victim's body, still smiling widely. "CATCH HIM!"

Tommy's eyes widened – he knew the clan would believe the lie. He took off at a run.

He felt something fall on his mind before he had taken two steps and the image of his uncle was replaced by that of Death itself as the knowledge of who had really committed the murder he was accused of was blocked from the young ninja's mind.

3 (continued)

_The Present_

Snake Eyes broke the trance abruptly, jerking back, his eyes wide. His expression changed almost instantly from shock to furor and he got up, pacing furiously, fists clenched and every other breath a angry hiss or snarl.

Storm Shadow, on the other hand, kept an expression closer to sheer shock, any trace of anger overwhelmed by incomprehension. After a few seconds, he searched for Esuma's eyes as an anchor back to reality and noticed her agitation – of course, she had no idea what they had just found out.

"It was him," Storm Shadow said, his eyes fixed on her. "I don't understand why… the Hard Master was his brother, I thought they were close. And he looked thrilled to blame me, not like I was just the most convenient scape goat. It's like he only did it _to_ blame me. I knew he didn't like me, but I always thought he tolerated me better than the Hard Master… why would he want to falsely accuse me of murder?"

"Who's him?" Esuma asked, right before her eyes widened as the answer dawned on her. "You mean… the man who was here? Who just tried to…" she trailed off, too angry to continue talking, and plastered her hands on her mouth to keep herself from screaming in fury.

Snake Eyes nodded and for lack of anything else to hit that wouldn't make noise and thus alert some nurse or doctor, he punched the foot of Storm Shadow's bed, his face still twisted in anger.

/* He made me take this oath, he's been urging me on ever since… he was determined to make me kill you, */ he signed, addressing his sword brother. /* He didn't hate you less than the Hard Master, he was constantly telling me and everyone else how terrible you were and everything bad you did! */

Storm Shadow frowned, finally starting to share his companions anger despite what he suspected was a lot of pain killers mellowing him out.

"He made you take this oath?" Esuma asked, her voice barely recognizable in her anger. "Break it. TALK. You can't let him have any influence on you anymore!"

/* I… the oath was not FOR him, */ Snake Eyes argued, shaking his head.

"Yes, it was!" Esuma snarled. "It was part of his scheme to make sure you remained determined to kill Tommy! What good is it otherwise? What's the point of not talking? If not for that oath, you two may have sorted this out a lot sooner! TALK! Stop listening to that… that murderer!"

/* It was MY idea, */ Snake Eyes protested. /* I wanted to be silent so I'd listen better, because I had failed to pick up on Tommy's intentions… */

Snake Eyes's fingers slowed noticeably as he went and eventually closed in together as his hands clenched into fists.

"Well of course you didn't! There was nothing to…" Esuma started. She stopped when Storm Shadow put a hand on her arm and signaled her to wait.

Snake Eyes had his head low, shaking in anger. He had been silent for his whole life as expiation for not picking up on clues that had never been there in the first place. The Soft Master had even hinted him towards it, coaxed him towards what he had thought had been his idea, and encouraged him to make the blurted out promise of a guilt-ridden child into an official, honor-bond vow, just to help ensure he wouldn't talk to his brother, or anyone else for that matter, anyone that might have helped him see through the deception.

And the part that stung the most was that he had no right to feel sorry for himself when he wasn't the one who had grown up on the streets, kicked out from his rightful home and place, and been hunted down as a murderer for most of his life.

"You…" his voice caught in his throat and he coughed. He cleared his throat, took a sip from the glass of water on Tommy's bedside tray, cleared his throat again and turned to Esuma again.

"You're right," he said. "A vow made by a child to a manipulative traitor and murderer is not valid."

Esuma blushed in spite of herself: Snake Eyes voice was deep and pure all at once, strength, power, control and goodness personified.

Snake Eyes did not notice. He turned to Storm Shadow next and, much to his sword brother's shock, knelt.

"What are you doing?" Storm Shadow asked, edging away as though Snake Eyes had gone insane and might do anything.

"Taking a new oath," Snake Eyes replied, keeping his eyes low. "I hereby swear loyalty to my clan Master, the rightful Heir of the Arashikage."


	9. Chapter 9: About Magic

**Chapter 9: About Magic**

A/N: I have to put my notes at the end this time, because they contain spoilers for this chapter. See you at the bottom!

1

It was nearly midnight by the time Esuma made her way back home. The party at school had been scheduled to last that long, so her mother merely greeted her when she arrived, blissfully unaware of what had happened. She was clearly tired and ready to go to sleep, so Esuma chose to wait until the morning to tell her about the attack before she saw it on the morning news.

For her part, she had never felt less sleepy. She went back outside and held out her hand for Racno to land on. The dragonfly did and looked at her, somehow managing to look sheepish.

"I don't understand what's happening," she sighed softly. "I can't believe what I remember about my parents, but I can't not believe it either, I know it's true! And you can do magic, like them?"

Racno shook his head. Esuma tilted her own head questioningly, obviously unsure she had even interpreted the insect's movement right. Racno flew off her hand and headed for the pond slowly.

Esuma got up and followed, feeling like Alice in Wonderland, as if she'd tumbled into a Universe where nothing made any sense and the only reasonable response was to just go along with it.

"Why do you want to go the pond?" she asked, following. "Does Oliaf have something to do with this too?"

_Oh, sure. Blame the one who's just been swimming here, minding her own business, while Mr. Air Head and the Amazing Dung Digger were out messing everything up._

Esuma yelped and jumped back, landing on her rear. The voice had not actually been a sound: it had felt like it had originated from inside her head, overriding her own thoughts.

_Ah, shake it off. You're t__ougher than that, girl; it's just telepathy. How else did you think I was going to talk to you?_

_Oliaf, please. She__'s had a rough night._

Esuma's eyes darted to Racno, who was perched on a branch near the pond, and she swallowed.

"You can both do telepathy?" she asked. "No, wait. That's why you wanted to come here, isn't it, Racno? You can't do it, it's just Oliaf, but she can let you do it too if you're close by. Right?"

_Close enough_, both voices answered at once.

"What about Falpis? Did you mean him when you said the Amazing Dung Digger? And did you call Racno an Air Head? That's not nice," she chided.

_Not to mention it's inaccurate,_ Racno remarked drily. _Don't mind her, Esuma: the four of us have been having disagreements lately on how to… handle things. Especially since Mr. Nakamura showed up, and then Mr. Smith. _

_She'd__ be safer if you hadn't interfered, _Oliaf lectured.

Esuma frowned. "Four, is it? So, Sop too? And you've been debating how to handle my life, have you?"

_Yes_, Oliaf said, a note of amusement in her voice.

_No_, Racno corrected. _We've been debating how to handle the rest of the World, and in particular, anything that may be connected to the Sorcerer responsible for your parents' death._

"Is that who changed my friend into that monster? A Sorcerer?"

_Oh, no, dear child. That was the tooth fairy_, Oliaf said, conveying through telepathy that she was also rolling her eyes.

_OLIAF!_ Racno scowled. _YOU picked this form, nobody else is responsible for your being trapped in a small pond! Stop taking out your perpetually rotten mood on her!_

"It's okay, Racno; she's right. That was a silly question. I'm sorry, it's just…"

_It's a lot to take in at once, _Racno said.

"Right," Esuma said. "OK, I'm going to take it one thing at a time. You did magic back there, right?"

_No,_ Racno said. _I allowed _you_ to do magic. None of us can use magic ourselves, we're merely storing it for you until you become older._

"But… Oliaf is doing telepathy right now!"

_We can all use telepathy,_ Racno said, _but Oliaf is the one who can allow you to use it as well if she's in close proximity to you. Our telepathy is limited to communications with other telepaths._

"Oh. So… I'm too young to have magic all the time, is that it?"

_You're not strong enough yet, kid,_ a new voice answered. Esuma turned, but she knew before she even saw the ferret that the surly voice belonged to Falpis.

_Is that an issue yet, Racno?_Oliaf asked. She sounded like she was requesting an apology more than an answer.

_Yes_, Racno admitted.

_Doesn't have to be for long_, Falpis grumped. _Just go get your locket, kid._

Esuma blinked at the ferret. "My… my locket? You mean, the one I had when Dad found me?"

_Seeing as you don'__t own another one, that's a pretty safe guess, don't you think, girl? _Oliaf asked.

Esuma nodded and took off for her bedroom, followed by Racno and Falpis. She skidded to a halt when she passed Sop's cage. The bird was going crazy in there, trying unsuccessfully to unlock its door. She opened it for her.

"Sorry, Sop," she said. "I didn't think of letting you out."

She hurried off to her room again, letting Racno and Falpis fill Sop in.

2

Esuma held her locket in her hands, this time surrounded by all four of her pets.

_You need to have access to your magic, but your body and your mind are still not strong enough to contain it all within you,_ Racno said.

_The locket__ can contain it instead, but it is not as safe a receptacle as we are,_ Sop added.

_That's because we have heads of our own and we can keep them cool even if you lose yours,_ Falpis said. _The locket can't: if you freak out, it will release any amount of magic needed to satisfy your adrenalin rush._

_And that only _sounds_ like a good thing_, Oliaf specified. _Too much magic going through you can harm you at this point, and you almost certainly won't be able to control it, meaning you're more likely than not to create some kind of disaster. If I were you, I'd let your two protectors do their job and stuff the locket back in your jewelry box._

"My two… you mean Tommy and Snake Eyes, don't you?"

She put the locket on.

"I won't let either of them get hurt defending me again," she said firmly. "Transfer the magic, I'll just have to be careful."

Racno was the first one to respect her request: he flew to the pendant and touched it, causing the same light transfer as when he had allowed her to use magic at the dance and the jewel to briefly shine green. Sop landed on her shoulder and, lifting the chain with her claws, touched the locket with her beak. The locket shone red, and then yellow when she lowered it for Falpis to put his paw on. She then dipped it in the pound and Oliaf's touch caused it to shine blue before it settled back to its natural comparatively dull white gold.

3

"It does feel like it contains a lot of energy," Tommy commented, gently lifting the locket up from Esuma's chest.

The two of them, as well as Snake Eyes, were in the gym teacher's office, early the following morning. Tommy had insisted he was fine and much to his doctors' displeasure, had simply left the hospital with Snake Eyes shortly after Esuma had gone back home.

"Do you know what you can do?" Snake Eyes asked her.

Esuma waved her hand in a so-so motion.

"They said they each held the powers of one element," she said. "Racno had air, Falpis earth, Oliaf water and Sop, fire. They wouldn't give me any more details than that, they said I needed to discover it for myself. They wouldn't even say why I had always associated the locket with life; Sop just wished for me never to find out."

Storm Shadow lifted an eyebrow, but the conversation was brought to an end by the first bell ringing, indicating classes would start in 5 minutes. Esuma grabbed her bag and giggled upon suddenly finding herself in the arms of a certain ninja in white.

Snake Eyes, still strangely uncomfortable with the relationship despite the fact he agreed Esuma was not in fact a child, looked away while the two exchanged a kiss and a hug.

"Be careful," Storm Shadow admonished as he released her.

Esuma smiled indulgently, turning her head back towards him as she left. "You're the one who needs to be careful," she said. "I don't have a crazy uncle after me."

Storm Shadow frowned slightly as Esuma ran out of the gym, unlocking the door for the first group of the day as she exited.

"Power attracts the need to use it," he told Snake Eyes in a whisper. "Please watch over her."

Snake Eyes nodded out of reflex. "Right," he added, solely for the sake of getting rid of the habit of silence. He then left, letting Asanuma Nakamura turn his attention to his students, who were all asking on top of one another whether he was all right and demanding to know what had happened.

4

Marie ran more than she walked to join her two friends at the picnic table they had elected to eat their lunch on. She sat in front of Esuma and leaned towards her.

"Is he okay?" she breathed. "I know everyone says he is, but is he really?"

Esuma nodded. "He's fine," she said.

"Is he now?" Lily asked mischievously. "Beyond the obvious, that is? Is he… I don't know… a fine… kisser?"

Esuma blushed a bit, looked around to make sure no one was listening in, and nodded, grinning.

"Not that it's any of your business, but yes. The hugs are nice too, if you must know: firm and strong, but still gentle."

"Firm, strong and gentle… would that be the kisses, the hugs, or both?" Marie asked, winking.

Esuma giggled. "Oh, alright; both," she said.

"Hey, Esuma? What's with the old locket?" Marie suddenly asked, spotting the necklace.

Esuma felt her breath catch in her throat. She had been wondering ever since last night how much to tell her friends, trying to think whether or not knowing what was going on could possibly put them in danger, and had decided to tell them everything. It was a big step from the decision to actually doing it, however: she was terrified they would believe her completely insane.

She took a deep breath and leaned low on the table, motioning them over.

"This is going to sound crazy, but just hear me out, okay?" she started.

The other two girls eagerly nodded.

"You remember my dress changed last night? Racno did it, by transferring some magic to me. I knocked over that guy that was attacking with a burst of wind."

Marie and Lily's eyes went the size of saucers and they gulped, but they nodded and gestured her to continue.

"You know those dreams I kept having, of my parents…"

She was suddenly interrupted by Snake Eyes, seemingly coming out of nowhere, ramming into her and pushing her off her seat just in time for a giant mosquito to bury its stinger in the exact bit of bench she had been sitting on. Marie and Lily screamed and threw themselves backward, falling off their own bench. Everywhere around, more screams could be heard as several insects roughly the size of cars flew and lumbered around, tossing people aside.

Esuma instinctively clutched her locket and was trying to think of what she should do, but she couldn't seem to think past the idea that the school was being attacked by _giant insects_. The closest one, the mosquito which had nearly impaled her, fell to the ground following Snake Eyes punching through its head with both fists and, further increasing her inability to grasp the reality of what was happening, dissolved into sparkling dust that floated in the air for a moment before disappearing altogether.

"ST… NAKAMURA!" Snake Eyes screamed.

The name finally shook Esuma's mind into place, and she squeezed the locket in her hand, intent on calling upon the power of air for no other reason that she at least knew what this one involved. A hand closed on hers and she screamed in surprised before realizing it was Tommy's: much like Snake Eyes, he had seemingly materialized out of nowhere.

"Don't just yet," he said hurriedly. "The first time you're seen using magic in public will be the end of your life as you know it!"

"But…"

She didn't get a chance to formulate more of an answer, there was too much going on to really carry any kind of conversation: Snake Eyes was fighting off more mosquitoes using the first one's stinger, ripped from the carcass, as a sword to both block the other stingers and stab the insects themselves; students everywhere where running away from a variety of giant critters ranging from cockroaches to butterflies, and several horse-sized ants were headed straight for Tommy and herself. Storm Shadow got in front of her and wrestled the first ant briefly, ripped its mandibles off and, imitating Snake Eyes, used the stolen body parts as a weapon against his remaining foes.

Esuma watched and waited, following Storm Shadow's advice, but only as long as her powers were not needed to protect anyone. She wouldn't have expected it to take very long, but amazingly, the fight wasn't going all that badly: the insects weren't chasing the students and staff very heartily and soon enough, Tommy, Mr. Smith and herself were the only humans left in the schoolyard. Now that there was no more public to witness her using magic, she called to the power of air and her clothes changed from her belted, pencil black corduroy skirt and her red and cream layered top to the same dark green dress that had appeared the previous night. She noted with some relief that the dress was whole once again and thus, at least decent in length, brushing her knees. It still had a bit of a plunging neckline and the fabric was so light and loose that the slightest breeze was likely to lift her skirt right above her head, but Esuma supposed that as long as she controlled the wind, she could maintain her privacy.

She looked around: Snake Eyes was almost done with the mosquitoes, and Storm Shadow was doing quite good against the ants, but there were a dozen moths coming their way. She wasn't sure how dangerous even giant moths were, but she wasn't willing to find out. She extended her arms towards them and willed a gust of wind into existence, which carried the insects away.

"Oooh, lookie-lookie, my babies!"

The voice sent a chill right down her spine: it was both slimy and grating, guttural yet high pitched. She turned towards the source, as did Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes. Judging by their expressions, Esuma guessed the voice sounded as disgusting to them as it did to hers.

And yet, the voice was nothing compared to the sight of its owner. Esuma gasped and backed away a step when she saw the vaguely human-looking collection of disparate pieces of insects that looked as though they had been melted into each other.

"She did _magic_," the creature said. "We don't like _that_, do we? Let's make sure she doesn't do it again!"

The Earth suddenly shook furiously below and all around Esuma. She was down in an instant and thought herself doomed, but just as a giant worm came out of the ground towards her, Tommy swept in, grabbed her in a cradle hold, and leaped away from the worm.

They had no sooner landed again that giant flies converged towards them. Snake Eyes, now armed with two mosquito stingers, ran towards them to assist and would have been there in time had the flies chosen to tackle their preys. Instead, the monstrous insects spit towards the couple.

Storm Shadow only had one second to react to the streams of acid headed straight for Esuma and himself and acted on instinct alone, turning his back to the flies and shielding his precious cargo with his own body. He let go of her just as the acid reached him, and for one blissful second, he thought the monster had miscalculated and the acid was not powerful enough to harm him. Then, his clothes started smoking where he'd been hit and a few drops of the corrosive liquid reached his skin.

Esuma automatically grabbed her locket and called upon the power of water. The flowing dark green dress changed to a silky form fitting dress with a white bodice and a blue skirt, while Esuma chanted a plea that her powers over water allowed her to create some and launch it as opposed to, say, just swim very well. She extended her arms towards Tommy, who was unsuccessfully trying to get the acid off by rolling in the dirt, just as the flies spit towards him again, covering him in more acid.

She willed the water forth, and suddenly, what could best be described as a small tidal wave rushed from just in front of her to Storm Shadow, lifting him from the ground and carrying him a good ten steps further, where he fell back to the ground, drenched and…

Esuma felt herself turned bright red: the strong shower had finished the acid's job and pretty much disintegrated what little had been left of Tommy's clothes, leaving the ninja clean of any acid but soaked, winded, and wearing nothing but water-drenched underwear.

Storm Shadow, for his part, didn't seem to notice or to care at all. He jumped to his feet and ran straight for the flies, taking a stinger handed to him by Snake Eyes as he went. Reasoning the flies would be much easier to defeat at ground level, Esuma launched another mini tidal wave, this one at the insects. Their wings soaked and in some cases, torn, the flies started drifting to the ground, where Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes were able to take them out.

They didn't have time to celebrate, however.

"Pests!" the monster cried, his voice even more horrible now that he was angry. "Go, my good soldiers, obey my will for it is that of your Queen!"

Directly in front of them, out of nowhere, appeared a bee hive the size of a very big house. It came into existence right through some tables and trees, and consequently, was immediately poked through in a few places by the obstacles. Thinking themselves under attack, the proportionally-sized bees came out and, spotting them, identified them as the threat and charged. At the same time, a half dozen beetles, appropriately enough around the size of Volkswagen bugs, materialized all around them.

"He's just going to keep making more of them appear!" Esuma said, shaking her head in discouragement.

"Only until…" Storm Shadow had been about to say the summoning monster would stop once they took him out, but he interrupted himself and dashed towards Esuma. "DUCK!" he screamed.

Esuma instinctively complied, crouching in a ball as Storm Shadow leaped over her and kicked the bee that had been about to stab her with its stinger. The bee, furious, flew into the still airborne Storm Shadow, knocking him down right in front of a charging beetle.

Storm Shadow only just had time to position himself to receive the hit before the beetle impacted him. The insect was so strong and had such momentum that it didn't even noticeably slow down; it just kept running, pushing Storm Shadow ahead of it until both rammed straight into the hive.

Storm Shadow cursed under his breath: having his clothes completely destroyed by acid and being burnt in spot himself by said acid was bad enough, but being shoved into a bee hive by a giant beetle and consequently finding himself covered head to toe in honey was just the straw that broke the camel's back.

He roared and tackled the beetle, pushing it back out of the hive in a tumble that exposed the creature's belly long enough for Storm Shadow to punch right through it several times in rapid succession. The beetle stopped moving, and Storm Shadow jumped off it, or rather, tried: his honey-covered legs stuck to the insect a bit and he ended up half falling and half sliding off the beetle, landing sprawled on the grass. Adding insult to the injury, only then did the insect dissolve.

Storm Shadow pushing himself back up from the ground resulted in a suction noise due to the honey that completely coated him sticking to the lush grass. He clenched his teeth to prevent himself from letting out a string of curses in front of Esuma and frantically looked around for her. Thankfully, she was still unharmed, holding the insects at bay with gushes of water. He ran towards her, looking for a discarded stinger to use as a sword, but found none: the one he'd had before had presumably sparkled out of existence like the rest of the insects once he'd let go of it.

Not having a proper weapon, he had to make do with using his own body, as sticky as it currently was, to fend off the insects that got through Esuma's increasingly weaker attacks. Snake Eyes was trying to get to the monster summoning the insects, but was making very little progress.

Things went from bad to worse when the worms came back. One of them made Esuma fall and the bees automatically converged on her. Storm Shadow dived to tackle her and roll her out of the way, and Snake Eyes had to abandon his efforts to stop the summoning monster in order to come assist them. The assistance proved more than necessary when it took Esuma and Storm Shadow almost a minute to tear themselves apart from each other, the honey having stuck them together.

Esuma had had enough: she was exhausted, her friends obviously were as well, and there was just no end to the giant insects as long as the monster could summon them. She had to stop him. She clasped her locket in her hand and closed her eyes in concentration, calling upon the power of fire.

Storm Shadow looked in horror when Esuma's dress transformed to one seemingly made out of red and yellow leaves and she sank to her knees, her beautiful legs failing her and her chest rising and falling jerkily as her breathing became ragged and laborious.

"Esuma, stop! We got this, don't use any more magic!" he cried out.

She tuned him out: she was vaguely aware that she wasn't standing anymore, and she could guess he was worried, but there were no other options available to them: she needed to destroy the monster that was summoning the insects, or the three of them would soon be dead. If the effort ended up killing her, at least Tommy and Snake Eyes would survive: it was still a better outcome than their dying right along with her.

She forced one of her hands up with great difficulty: the lithe limb felt like lead. She narrowed her eyes in concentration and just before Storm Shadow's hand landed on hers to force it down, she unleashed a flaming tornado that tore right through several bees and worms to finally engulf the monster that had been bringing them forth.

The monster's screams of agony and Tommy crying out her name in despair was the last thing she was aware of before the World faded away into silent darkness.

A/N

Disclaimer: the idea of getting a GI Joe character coated in honey is not original to this story. There are three more stories doing it (currently), all in the cartoon section: _Beach's Honey Buns_, _Bear Trap_, and _The Greenshirts and the Werewolf_... that one has an open request to do one with Storm Shadow. It didn't look like anybody else was going to write it, and I came up with this idea for doing it here, so I went for it. Hope you enjoyed!

If anybody else was working on a story that does this to Tommy, or wants to, I certainly don't mind not being the only one to do it!

Thank you for reading, please review!


	10. Chapter 10: Shifts

Chapter 10: Shifts

A/N:

I'm very sorry if most of you didn't like the last chapter, but a review or PM telling me it didn't work for you would have been a lot better for me than the stony silence I got (out of a grand total of three reviews for chapter 9, two were strictly on the honey-coated ninja and did not comment on the story at all). If it was just ok, a one-liner comment would have been great too, just to let me know you're still interested. I don't care about the review count so if you want to criticize or comment without anyone but me seeing it, just PM me. Getting close to zero reaction to some important revelations, continuing mysteries and a cliff-hanger was very disappointing. It's a bit difficult to assume anybody even cares at this point and if that's the case, why should I continue to bother writing this?

I wonder… did the cliffhanger fail simply because you assumed I wouldn't kill off Esuma? That's a bit of a risky assumption… in fact, I will warn you right now that one of the three main characters (that would be Esuma, Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow) will in fact die a good while before the end of the story. Who, when, how? Not telling. Could be Esuma, could be now…

Okay, done ranting, here's for another try. Please enjoy, but if you don't, please let me know. Again, if for whatever reason, you don't want to make a public comment… that's what the PMs are for. I won't be offended by negative comments; I may reply because I like dialogue and a good debate, but I don't flame and I don't bite (especially not long distance). :P

1

Snake Eyes' cry was indistinguishable from Storm Shadow's.

"Esuma!"

Both ninja were at the girl's side in an instant. Storm Shadow gently cradled her and checked for a pulse by putting his fingers on her neck. He breathed a sigh of relief upon finding it, immediately imitated by Snake Eyes.

Snake Eyes took out a bottle of scented salt from one of his pockets and positioned it under Esuma's nose. The strong smell had the desired effect: Esuma wrinkled her nose, groaned, and opened her eyes.

"Are you all right?" Storm Shadow asked. His voice was so soft as to be barely more than a whisper.

Esuma took a moment to reply, trying to feel her body and assess whether or not she was in fact all right.

"I… I think so. Is the monster…" her eyes widened and filled with tears as she realized she'd been about to ask whether the monster was dead, whether she had successfully killed someone. She unconsciously hugged herself and whimpered.

"It's gone," Snake Eyes answered. "Esuma, that thing was not born, it was made. I don't think it really qualified as alive."

Esuma, who had started shaking, calmed down significantly at the few words, much to Storm Shadow's relief.

"You saved us," Storm Shadow said. "Thank you. Now don't you ever dare do that again!"

Snake Eyes scowled at him, but Esuma chuckled. "I'm sorry I worried you," she said, "but you know I had to do something or all three of us would have been killed. It just tired me out, I'll be fine."

"You should have run," Snake Eyes said. "This wasn't your battle. You would have been safe, then, no matter what happened to us."

Storm Shadow's eyes widened and he looked at Snake Eyes in surprise.

"No, she wouldn't have," he said. "Snake Eyes, have you not been paying attention? The insects targeted her right from the start. If she had run, they would have followed her."

Esuma's eyes widened again and she looked at Tommy in disbelief. Snake Eyes, for his part, palmed himself as he replayed the battle in his mind and confirmed that his sword brother was not only right, but that the insects' target should have been obvious.

"But… why?" Esuma asked.

Storm Shadow shook his head sadly. "I don't know."

Esuma frowned and grasped her locket, causing both men to cry out in surprise and to start begging her not to use more magic. She easily tuned them out, her mind already reaching out well beyond the schoolyard, to her house. She felt Oliaf's presence and reached out for the fish's mind.

_Oliaf,_ she called. We _were just...no. I was just attacked. Do you know why?_

_You sound exhausted_, came the fish's answer. _Come home, we should talk. You can bring the boys._

The contact was abruptly severed. Esuma released the locket, her hand shaking from exhaustion.

"My fish just ordered me back home for a talk," she said. "She says you can come too. She sounded like she's going to ground me," she added with a chuckle. "Oh, and don't worry: Dad isn't home right now."

"It's just as well to go to your place," Storm Shadow said. "Technically, we should have fled like everyone else, it wouldn't do to still be here when people start coming back or the authorities arrive."

2

A short while later, the three stood by the small pond in Esuma's backyard, along with Falpis, Sop and the freshly awakened Racno. Oliaf was swimming near the surface, completing the group of seven.

Esuma took a big breath and closed her hand around her locket. She immediately heard Oliaf's voice, and she could tell from the way they startled that Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes did as well.

_Good, we got contact established. I can take over from there, you let go of the pendant. You've abused yourself quite enough for one day,_ the fish said.

Esuma did as told, hiding a sigh of relief: her strength had already been getting depleted again.

"I had to use magic because the school was attacked by a monster who could summon giant insects," she explained.

_The school was?_ Racno asked. _Are you sure the target was the whole school?_

"Esuma was the target," Storm Shadow replied. "I think it may have sensed her magic, or been sent by someone who did."

Racno sighed and shook his tiny head. _It was sent, _he said,_ and the one who sent it knew about you since yesterday, Esuma, before we activated the locket. I was hoping to be wrong, and never thought he'd move so fast. I'm sorry._

_Stop being __criptic, Racno_, Falpis snipped. _If you don't have any doubts anymore, just come right out and tell them who was behind this attack._

"The Soft Master," Snake Eyes guessed before Racno could follow the ferret's suggestion.

Storm Shadow's eyes went wide. He would never forgive himself if his uncle had decided to kill Esuma because of her connection to himself.

_Bingo,_ Sop chirped in softly. _But it has nothing to do with you, Tomisaburo Arashikage: she's been his target for far longer than you have._

"That's why he attacked me last night," Esuma said in a shocked whisper. "It wasn't just because I was helping Tommy… I thought it was strange that he just knocked him out and then came after me!"

_That was what first made me suspect his identity,_ Racno said. _The mystical trace he left was confirmation, and this attack on you today, by a magical monster, is proof: sending monsters after his victims is a favorite strategy of his._

"But why would my uncle be after her?" Storm Shadow asked, moving closer to Esuma as if being physically closer to her right now would better allow him to protect her from future attacks.

"And for longer?" Snake Eyes asked. "He's been after Tommy since before Esuma was…" he trailed off, his eyes widening.

_He's been after Esuma since before either of _you_ were born_, Sop said, confirming Snake Eyes unformulated guess.

"Since before she was sent into the future and turned back into a baby…" Storm Shadow said. "I was assuming that had happened centuries ago, but it was actually within the Soft Master's lifetime?"

Oliaf snorted. _That _was_ centuries ago, _she said. _Thinking in terms of human lifespan is senseless when dealing with this sorcerer._

Esuma's eyes widened. "He's the sorcerer who turned my friend into that monster?" she asked. "The one who sent him to kill us?"

_Yes_, Racno said, his thoughts somehow feeling as gentle as a whisper.

"But…" Esuma continued, "if it's me he's after, why did he set Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow against each other? He made Snake Eyes believe Tommy killed his own uncle! Made him swear to kill him before he could ever speak again!"

The four animals paused for a second, this particular question taking them by surprise: they had expected Esuma to wonder why she was targeted, although they now realized they should have known her first concern would be for others.

_So To__mmy couldn't protect you,_ Racno explained. _The Sorcerer found out long ago that Tomisaburo Arashikage was fated to protect you, and as long as he didn't know where you were, his best move was to at least deprive you of a protector. Back then, he feared attempting to kill him himself, so he tried to get others to do it._

Esuma said nothing, trying to digest the information. The Soft Master was the Sorcerer who had turned her best friend into the monster that had killed her fiancé and her parents, and he was still after her now, who knew how long after her parents' death...

"How far into the future did my parents send me?" she asked.

_Nine__ hundred years, _Falpis answered in a surly tone that clearly conveyed how he felt about the Sorcerer's stubbornness.

"Did he time travel too, or is he immortal?" Esuma asked.

_Immortal_, Sop answered, her voice gentle as a caress. _He can appropriate living bodies, expelling the owner's soul to the spirit World. I'm sorry,_ she added, addressing Storm Shadow, _but your real uncle died a long time ago, most likely in infancy. The man you know as the Soft Master is the Sorcerer._

Both Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes shook their heads.

"Not in infancy," Storm Shadow said. "That Sorcerer of yours obviously does not possess the strength of character required to train as a ninja. He must have killed my mother's brother and stole his body once he was an adult."

Snake Eyes nodded and, more intent than ever to not keep the habits the Soft Master had imposed on him, spoke his agreement. "He's right, the Sorcerer would not have toughed it out through the training."

_I think it's enough talk for today,_ Racno said, flying to Esuma, drawing the others' eyes to her as she leaned on Storm Shadow: she was asleep on her feet. _Using the magic drained her, I'm surprised she stayed awake this long._

Tommy smiled down tenderly and picked her up in his arms to carry her to bed. He still had a lot of questions, but he already had a lot to think about from what he'd heard today; it would perhaps be best to concentrate on this much for now.

3

_Esuma Yr's diary, Saturday morning_

_Dear diary,_

_Good morning!_

_This used to be so easy to say, maybe because I always assumed I was going to have a good morning too? I find that assumption hard to make this morning._

_I woke up fully dressed and I don't remember falling asleep… I think I dozed off while we were all talking. I'm really embarrassed… I feel like a little baby, just falling asleep like that… I feel a lot better now, though._

_The thing is, it's Saturday, which means no school. I don't even know where Tommy lives, and Dad's not home today, so there's not even the small chance Snake Eyes would drop by to see him. I think I'll call Marie and Lily, I don't really want to be alone._

_I could talk to Racno, Sop, Oliaf and Falpis, couldn't I? The thing is, I'm a bit scared to: I don't know what else they're going to tell me, and I think I'd end up asking them about the dream I had tonight and I know they're going to tell me it's my memories coming back, from before, and I'm not ready to talk to them about it yet. _

_It almost feels wrong to want to see Tommy now, after spending the whole night remembering my fiancé. He died so long ago, but each detail that comes back to me about him feels like another stab through my heart. But I still WANT to remember. I think._

_It's so confusing… how I feel for him is completely different than how I feel for Tommy. But I love him, and I loved my fiancé, so I don't understand why it's so different. I need someone to talk to, I need to tell Marie and Lily everything_

_I still can't see his face in my memories, but I now know his name: Beldovy Orade. Why is it that after 900 years, the name still stirs up more feelings than that of Tommy Arashikage? Is it just because the mystery of the past makes it seem more romantic?Is it nostalgia for a time when my parents were alive? Why would any of that overcome how I feel for Tommy?_

_I don't want my past to cost me my present. I want to remember Beldovy, but he died… I wish he hadn't, but he has, and I found someone else, and I feel like I'm a horrible person… Tommy doesn't deserve my being confused and questioning what we have. He can't know, I'm sure I'll be fine again once I get my head back together. _

4

Esuma closed her diary and mindlessly fingered her locket. She instantly felt a jolt of energy and let go of the pendant right away. She sighed heavily and flopped on her desk, her head on her folded arms.

"Marie and Lily," she muttered. "Girl talk. Right."

She picked herself up and called her best friends on a three-way call, setting a meeting by the outdoor basketball court at school. Both Lily and Marie promised to be there right away, so Esuma called out to her mother that she was going out to see her friends, threw on a jacket, slipped into some shoes and left, purposely leaving all four of her pets behind.

Her friends lived closer to the school than she did, and were already there when she arrived. They threw themselves at her in a group hug the second they spotted her.

"Esuma, we couldn't find you anywhere when everyone ran away from those insects!" Marie said. "We were worried sick!"

"Where were you?" Lily added.

"I…" Esuma started, and then stopped to take a big breath. "Okay, this is going to be a bit of a long story…"

She told them everything then, from her parents sending her to this time to the reasons for the attacks, to her growing confusion regarding her feelings. They didn't interrupt her once, letting her tell it all at her own pace, listening intently and saving their questions for when she'd be done telling the story.

It took them a few seconds of staring at her wide-eyed before they could actually ask anything. Lily was the first to break the silence.

"So… that Sorcerer guy was after Mr. Nakamura so he couldn't look after you, and now he's just gunning straight for you?"

Esuma nodded.

"Oh, Esuma!"

Now that the basic facts were confirmed, both her friends tackled her into a bear hug, expressing sympathies over one another. Even though she had been seeking advice, not sympathy, the display of concern and affection made Esuma feel a lot better about it all.

After a few minutes of that, Lily and Marie calmed down enough to let go and take turns talking again.

"And er…" Marie trailed off briefly. "I can't believe your pets talk…" she muttered before continuing her train of thoughts. "So, your pets say that this Sorcerer's been after you from before your birth parents sent you into the future?"

"They don't talk," Esuma corrected. "They're telepaths."

"Right," Lily said, "telepaths. Much more commonplace."

Esuma was taken aback for about one second by the sarcastic remark, and then burst out laughing, quickly followed by Marie and Lily herself. It really hadn't been that funny, but when you need a laugh, you seize the first chance you get. After a few minutes recomposing themselves, Marie picked up again.

"What I meant to ask was," she said, trying and failing to look offended at the interruption "why? He turned your friend into a monster and got him to try and kill you, and he would have if not for your parents… Esuma? What's wrong?"

Esuma had just gasped and had her hands clasped over her mouth. Her eyes were wide and she was shaking, looking completely horrified.

"He… he…" she stuttered, moving her hands away from her mouth to hug herself. "I was his target? It's because of me? Beldovy, my parents…"

She fell to her knees. Marie was right, of course. How had she not seen it before? Her parents had not just saved her from an enemy trying to kill them all, they had given their lives to prevent that enemy from taking hers. Why? What did the Sorcerer want? Did that mean…

Her head snapped up as the answer to the problem dawned on her. "He just wants me," she said. "He'll leave Tommy alone if…"

"Esuma, if you don't kill that train of thoughts right now, I swear I'm going to start slapping you until you do. That's crazy and you know it!" Lily said.

"Whatever he wants, it can't be good for anybody," Marie agreed. "If you just give it to him, what next? He's not just going to go away and be nice for the rest of eternity."

Esuma held herself tighter and spoke through gritted teeth. "He got Beldovy and my parents killed, and he made my best friend do it! Who knows what he's going to do next now? I have to do _something_! This is all my fault, I have to stop it. I have to stop _him_!"

"Then we'll help you."

Esuma jumped back to her feet and turned around, her heart hammering madly: Tommy was the one who had talked, and he was standing with Snake Eyes right behind her. Both ninjas looked deadly serious. Marie and Lily stepped back a little.

"T…Tommy," Esuma stammered. Tears flooded her eyes at the thought she may have broken the heart of the man she loved. "Did… did you hear…?"

Storm Shadow cupped his hands around Esuma's jaw line and locked eyes with her. He brushed her tears away with his thumbs and smiled softly.

"Esuma, I'm sorry. We need to keep an eye on you; overhearing some of your conversations is unavoidable."

Esuma shook her head, causing her thick white hair to catch the breeze and flutter away from her delicate features, making her look almost intolerably beautiful. Storm Shadow used every last bit of his self control not to kiss her.

"It's okay," she said. "It's just… you heard what I said about Beldovy, didn't you?"

He nodded. "Esuma… I'm glad I did. You're only just remembering him, it's perfectly natural to grieve. There is nothing I want more than for you to be safe and happy, and if you need me to be just a friend while your heart heals its wounds from your previous life, a friend is what I will be. I love you, Esuma, the last thing I want is to be a source of sorrow and worry for you. I will wait for your feelings to be clear to you again, no matter how long it takes."

Snake Eyes stood back, glad that his mask at least hid his shameful feelings. His first reaction, when Esuma had mentioned her old fiancé, had been to balk at the thought of yet another rival for her affection. The feeling had been fleeting as can be, suppressed almost immediately, and had given way to nearly unbearable guilt as his mind slowly caught up with his heart. All the jealousy he'd been feeling lately, all the trouble he'd been having accepting Esuma and Tommy's relationship, now made sense. When you paired it with the fact he hadn't spared Scarlett a thought in days, it was painfully obvious that like Storm Shadow, he had fallen for General Hawk's adopted daughter. He hated himself for it; he had sworn loyalty to Tommy, how could he be in love with his girlfriend? Nevertheless, now that he was aware of it, he could no more deny the fact than deny his own humanity. He could, however, make sure it didn't become a problem and part of that was hiding it very carefully.

Esuma took a moment to process what Tommy had said, and when she did, her tears redoubled, although she wasn't sure whether they were tears of joy or pain. She got on her tippy-toes and kissed him deeply, wrapping her arms around his neck to hold him at the same time.

"The one thing I know for a fact right now is that I love you," she said when they broke apart.

Tommy smiled briefly before becoming serious again. "For us to stop the Soft Master, we will need to become stronger. For you, this means training to use your magic: we need to discover the exact nature of your powers and we need to increase your stamina and your control over them."

Esuma nodded, a determined look in her eyes.

"And for you," Snake Eyes added, addressing Storm Shadow, "it means finally learning the rest of your clan's techniques. I'll do my best to help you."

"I couldn't ask for a better teacher," Storm Shadow said. "Esuma, I'd like you to rest for today; we will start your training tomorrow."


	11. Chapter 11: The Past Revealed

**Chapter 11: The Past Revealed**

**A/N's: **

Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I wish more readers were like you.

I thought I'd answer a couple of questions, since I failed to explain properly in the story itself… my bad. ^^;

1) Ninja carrying scented salts instead of using pressure points: the salts would be much nicer for the person being woken up than being pinched awake. Less likely to make them cry out, too, which would help stealth. So yes, I think they can carry some around. Never hurts to have more than one way to do something, right?

2) Lily and Marie's reaction: they get over the whole 'my best friend can do magic' fairly quick because they kind of expected it by then. I'm sure they noticed Esuma moving faster than she should be able to (actually slowing down everything else as she's done twice in just the short time since this story started). Plus, they saw her dress magically change, she disappeared when attacks happened, and she has a domesticated dragonfly. Also… white hair and purple eyes. It all kind of points to the girl not being your average high schooler. I'm not saying they knew it, but it was less shocking than if they had never suspected. Also, they're being good friends: she needed them for support, she didn't need twenty questions and a freak out.

This chapter and the next were meant to be together as one big chapter, but it felt like the story was due for an update, and this is pretty long already, so here it is. ^.^

1

A cold breeze tickled Esuma as she stood about twenty paces away from Storm Shadow. Between them, the first few snowflakes of the season drifted lazily. Esuma smiled at the tiny crystals and playfully extended her arm for one of them to land on.

"Isn't it beautiful?" she asked. "I don't know why, but the first snow is always the prettiest."

Storm Shadow shrugged; he was trained to ignore the most glacial of temperatures, but first snows stirred up bad memories.

"You're prettier," he settled for saying. It was perfectly true and also a good change of subject. "One last time," he continued with hardly a pause, "we still have about ten minutes before the other students arrive."

She blushed at the compliment, nodded at the suggestion and straightened up, putting herself in a neutral stance.

Nearly two months had passed since they'd started her magical training, and any false modesty aside, Esuma had to admit she had made great progress. She understood most of her abilities, controlled them quite well and had much better stamina.

"Primary, Water," Storm Shadow called out.

Esuma conjured a ball of water the size of her head and held it in place in front of her, floating chest high. Her dress automatically changed to the silky white and blue dress that always appeared when she called upon that aspect of her magic.

"Primary, Fire."

The ball of water disappeared and an arc of flame encircled Esuma instead, rotating around her, looking coiled and ready to be unleashed. The silky dress was replaced by the one associated with the girl's power over fire, the one made from red and yellow leaves.

The fire was replaced by a small tornado held by Esuma a few paces away from herself, just shy of touching the ground, at Storm Shadow's request of 'Primary, Air." Her dress changed again, this time to the flowy dark green dress with wings.

The tornado vanished just like the water and the fire had when Tommy instructed her to call upon her primary Earth magic. In its stead, sand and dust seeped out from the cracks in the paved schoolyard and started spinning around her in a Saturn-like ring even as her dress changed to a wispy, light fabric wrapped around her in a white and gold pattern.

Storm Shadow nodded, satisfied. Esuma allowed the dust to dissipate and went back to her neutral stance. The exercise wasn't over: next was the tricky part.

"Secondary, Air," Storm Shadow called.

Esuma conjured up her airy green dress and, using the wings that appeared not on the dress as she had first assumed but on her back, flew a few paces off the ground.

"I am light as air, I am free," she recited.

"Secondary, Earth," Storm Shadow continued, throwing a rock in a wide arc above them, aimed to Esuma's left.

"I am one with the Earth and all its elements," Esuma said, landing. Her dress changed into the white and gold wrap again as she concentrated on telekinetically catching the rock and making it land softly in her hand.

"Secondary, Water," Storm Shadow prompted.

_My mind flows like water_, came Esuma's voice in his head, a hint of nervousness making it tremble. Her clothes did not change this time. They never had when she used telepathy, not even when she had first discovered her powers. The four animals had explained that it reflected the ability was second nature and attributed that to a natural talent.

"Secondary, Fire," Storm Shadow finally said.

Esuma had been flawless today – if their chosen strategy of discovering Fire's secondary aspect by cycling through all of Esuma's powers and relying on her memory to automatically finish the cycle was to work, it would be today.

Esuma opened her mouth. "I… I have no idea," she said with a sigh. "I'm sorry."

Her clothes changed back to the ones she had put on before leaving that morning: the purple wool jacket brushing her slender hips, contrasting nicely with the pale denim of her fitted jeans and making her laced ankle black boots look almost purple too, by association.

She kept her eyes down, dreadfully disappointed in herself. She felt a hand under her chin and obediently tilted her head back straight as the strong hand gently pushed upward.

"Esuma, such beautiful eyes should never hide," Storm Shadow said. "You did well today."

She sighed. "I know I'm getting better, but it's taking so long! I never seem to be good enough when there's an attack, and…" she swallowed, tears welling up in her eyes, "you're always getting hurt protecting me!"

Tommy pulled her into a hug.

"Injuries on my body will heal... the wounds my heart would suffer if you were to be harmed yourself never would. You see fourteen monsters that hurt me while I protected you, I see fourteen of my greatest victories."

Esuma sighed against his chest – he always brushed his injuries off, he only ever cared that she didn't have a scratch. It wasn't fair… she was the one with magic, she felt she should be the one doing the protecting. It wasn't fair for another reason, too, one she felt far worse about: Tommy had been true to his word and had not pushed their relationship at all. He was very clear on the fact he loved her, but he hadn't even pressed for another kiss, limiting himself to hugs, and Esuma had found herself simultaneously grateful for it and hating herself over it.

She settled closer against his chest and closed her eyes. She felt safe, she felt her heart bursting with love and she knew she was loved in return. She cared more for this man than she would have ever pictured herself caring for anyone, but although she had certainly also felt some lust for him when they had first met, her feelings had been changed by her memories, by stronger feelings returned to her mind and heart. She loved Tommy dearly, and she knew he was in love with her, but as much as she wished otherwise, she was not in love with him. She was still in love with Beldovy, even in Death; and what was worse, she saw more of him in Snake Eyes every day. She didn't know what to make of it, didn't understand her own heart, but she did know that she didn't want to hurt Tommy and so, she was at a standstill.

They heard a cat's meow from towards the entrance to the school yard and broke apart, recognizing Snake Eyes' signal that the first students were arriving.

2

Storm Shadow was in his office, taking a last look at his first group's stats before he started the class, when instead of the bell ringing, he heard an explosion and his outside window blew in from the blast. He dove under his desk, therefore avoiding the shards, then leaped out again, jumping right through the now glass-free hole in the wall.

Not for the first time, he regretted not wearing any weapon under his teaching clothes: the explosion had seemingly originated from a giant robotic Panda that stood on its hind legs in the middle of the courtyard, snarling at the school building. The thing turned its red eyes on the figure in white that had just jumped out a window and the snarl turned into a fierce grin. Obviously, the thing was glad one of its targets had appeared so readily.

From the corner of his eyes, Storm Shadow saw a flurry of people rushing away from the school and the Monster. Unnoticed by most, two figures stayed behind and joined him in front of the mechanical beast.

"A… panda?" Snake Eyes asked, eyes wide. "But… they're Chinese!"

"As if we needed further proof that the Soft Master is an impostor," Storm Shadow remarked grimly.

The Panda extended an arm towards them as they talked and the air shimmered. Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes each rolled away. Snake Eyes, being closer to her, grabbed Esuma and got her out of harm's way as well. The spot of ground they had just been standing on exploded a mere fraction of a second after they had vacated it.

"Esuma! Try to tear it apart!" Storm Shadow called out, running towards the Panda himself, intent on trying to disable it as well.

Esuma concentrated and in an instant, she was wrapped in white and gold again. She narrowed her eyes at the panda, concentrating, but she couldn't get a hold of any of its parts.

"I can't control it at all!" she called out. "It's probably too unnatural!"

Snake Eyes revealed an uzi hidden in his custodial uniform and fired at the mechanical beast, carefully avoiding Storm Shadow, who was hitting the robot in various spots, trying to find a weak joint.

Tommy found no weakness, and Snake Eyes' bullets bounced right off the machine's armoured body. To add insult to injury, the panda ignored both Tommy's close-ranged attacks and Snake Eyes' bullet, and fired his weapon again towards Esuma. Tommy saw it moving its arm and threw himself at it, but was unable to move the robotic limb in the slightest.

Panic gripped him when the metal he was trying to pull grew warm and the air shimmered.

"FLY!" he screamed. "ESUMA!"

Esuma had not needed the advice, she was already in the air, flying towards the panda. The first shot missed her and the explosion that occurred where she'd been standing only harmed the nearby grass. The panda, after a brief glance at her, threw Storm Shadow off his arm and a few paces away, and pointed the weapon at Snake Eyes. He turned his other arm towards Storm Shadow and as the first arm hummed while the shimmering explosive energy charged up, the second started making a disquieting hissing sound.

2.5

_- 916 years ago -_

_The white monster who had been her best friend cocked its head at her pleas, clearly not understanding what she was saying. The ugly streak of dirty orange looked like dried blood on his fur, and Esuma, nonsensically, suddenly thought that her friend hated to be dirty._

"_Pain?" it asked._

_It was the only word he seemed able to say, he had already repeated it a half dozen times since he had found them._

"_Please…" she tried again. "Please, remember!"_

"_Pain."_

"_Esuma, he's too far gone!" Beldovy said, his voice breaking. Her fiancé was desperately trying to pull her behind himself, to shield her with his own body. _

_What had once been his brother laughed at his words, and raised its arm, pointing at them._

"_Pain," it said, grinning._

_Beldovy changed strategy: since Esuma would not go behind him, he jumped over her to land between her and his twin-turned-demon. He was facing her, and the last thing he saw were those beautiful purple eyes widening in horror. An intense, burning pain spread from the middle of his back, taking over his every sense and spreading through his entire body in an instant._

_Esuma screamed as her fiancé's body collapsed in her arms, a black magical stain covering most of his back._

"_PAIN!" the monster screeched in glee._

2

- Present Day -

The memory only took an instant to replay in Esuma's mind, which was the only reason she didn't plummet all the way to the ground, instead losing only a bit of altitude. She still hadn't seen all of Beldovy's face, even though he had been right in front of her. She had seen his eyes, and his nose, and his mouth, but there was no contour, the rest of his features were a blur.

She noticed the panda's arm pointing at Snake Eyes and suddenly pictured the very same black stain covering the ninja. She dove for him, calling forth the power of fire as she went. He was already moving aside, but she still impacted him and the force of her momentum carried both of them a safe distance from the small explosion.

She was already concentrating on the Panda when they collided, and she extended her arms as Snake Eyes managed to convert the lateral force of the collision into a safe roll, wrapping his arms and legs around her to carry her along. The fire ball hurled towards the mechanical beast before they had even come to a stop, and engulfed it.

Storm Shadow leaped away, just in time to avoid being hurt as the robotic panda exploded. He joined Snake Eyes and Esuma, who were just disentangling themselves, and smiled warmly at them both.

"That was excellent, Esuma. You too, Snake Eyes. Are you both all right?"

"Of course they are."

Storm Shadow whipped around towards the direction of the voice and Snake Eyes and Esuma jumped to their feet to get on either side of him. All three were greeted to a scowling ghostly image of the Soft Master, emanating from the robotic panda's remains. The Soft Master snorted disdainfully at their shocked expressions and started talking again before any of them could recover enough to think of something to say.

"I am running out of patience with you three," he said. "With your history, how can you still all be sticking together? Snake Eyes, I'm not too surprised in your case, you would follow anyone who bothered to so much as look appreciative. But Esuma? And you, Tomisaburo?"

Tommy winced; it had been a while since he'd heard so much irony and hatred in his name, since someone speaking it managed to make it sound like it meant 'worthless burden' rather than 'precious third son'.

"We have nothing to forgive each other, Sorcerer," Esuma said, glaring right back at the apparition.

"Oh? Well, this is interesting…You know my name, and you're using your magic, but you think you have nothing to forgive HIM for?" the Soft Master asked, pointing at Storm Shadow. "You only have bits and pieces of memories, don't you? Do you remember Beldovy Orade?"

Something must have shown in Esuma's face, because the Soft Master chuckled.

"Yes, you do remember that much. Of course you do, you rushed to his defense."

Esuma frowned; that was not the way she remembered it at all, she remembered Beldovy using his body to shield her.

The Soft Master's eyes widened and he grinned maliciously. "Oh, this is too precious; you haven't figured it out yet! Well… far be it from me to keep such secrets. I wouldn't want you to later accuse me of deceiving you."

He gestured then, and for Storm Shadow, Snake Eyes and Esuma, the schoolyard stopped existing and the past became the present.

3

_- 916 years ago -_

_3.1 Tommy_

_Tommy had his face buried in his knees, holding himself tight in a desperate attempt to ease the pain that radiated from his heart and that his cries and tears had not diminished in the least. _

_It wasn't working. _

"_Esuma…" he croaked. The young elf barely recognized his own voice; the steady, self-assured tone had mutated into a shaky, tear-filled whine. He fleetingly thought he would normally hate that, but he felt numb to anything but the pain._

_His own brother, his twin… favored again. It shouldn't have been a surprise, it was always the same thing: their parents, their teachers, the elders, their peers… and now by the princess. Dear Beldovy, everyone's darling; stronger, faster, better with his hands, nicer personality, nicer face…_

"_That's really no excuse," came a voice from right in front of him, startling him. His head snapped up and his heart skipped a beat: before him stood the most famous Sorcerer in the land._

_Tommy made the biggest mistake of his life and sealed his fate at that precise moment, by not immediately plunging his dagger into his own heart._

_3.2 – Beldovy –_

"_Did you find him?" Esuma asked urgently._

_Beldovy shook his head, not meeting her eyes. The two of them had been looking for Tommy for hours, ever since he had run off following their announcing their engagement, putting an end to his brother's misplaced hopes that Esuma might still come back to him. _

_Beldovy sat down heavily on the nearby bench and immediately slumped down, elbows on his knees and chin resting on his hands. Esuma sat by him and leaned his head against herself instead, stroking his hair gently and just barely brushing her fingers against the points of his ears. The familiar caress, by its softness, transformed from its usual romantic nature to gentle comfort and a simple expression of love._

"_I thought he was over that," Beldovy sighed. "I really did. You two broke up over two years ago, and he's been friendly, and we've been getting along as well as ever... I never dreamed that he'd be heartbroken even now. I was an idiot!" he finished angrily._

"_You weren't," Esuma said. "I was. I should have known, I should have seen his feelings weren't changing." She sighed heavily. "I was a child when I thought the love I feel for him was romantic, and when I realized otherwise, he understood and never felt any anger towards me. I know he didn't, and you do as well. At first, I could tell he was sad, and it upset me, but he soon seemed happy again… I thought he was over me, but I see now that he was really just hiding his feelings because he couldn't stand to upset me. Should we keep looking for him?"_

_Beldovy shook his head and shifted position slightly to lock eyes with her. As usual, doing this resulted in parts of his brains locking down at the sight of the incredibly beautiful purple eyes, like two pools of water at sunset, framed by the snow-white mane and features so soft and perfect that they'd make any angel jealous. He swallowed and had to make a conscious effort to steer his mind away from the desire to be with her and back to the matter at hand. "We've hurt him," he said, the thought finishing to sober him up. "We've already told him how sorry we were… if he still wanted to be away from us badly enough to hide so well, I think we need to respect his wish. He'll come back when he's ready to let us patch things up with him."_

_Esuma nodded. Beldovy knew his twin better than anyone else; she trusted his judgment in this._

_3.3 – Esuma –_

_The noise of branches breaking outside her window woke her up. She gently shook Beldovy's shoulder and when his eyes shot opened, she briefly put a finger to his lips, and then tiptoed to the window to see what was going on outside._

_The sight made her gasp and stagger back. Outside, basked in the full moon's glow, augmented further by a wall of fire surrounding it, the Royal Garden was devastated. In the middle of it stood… something. Esuma could see it clearly, but would have been hard pressed to put a name on it._

_It looked like an elf, except covered in white fur almost from head to toe, the one exception being an orange streak connecting his heart to his head. The elven princess mentally corrected herself as she examined the creature closer: its ears were too small to see under its fur, so it really looked more like the humans._

_As she looked, a ghostly figured appeared next to the creature, one more recognizable and because of it, much scarier: the very Sorcerer her parents had been trying to apprehend for reprehensible use of magic. The apparition looked straight at her window and smiled evilly._

"_There she is, Tommy," it said to the creature. "The one who hurt you… I bet her boy toy is in there as well, mocking you and delighting in your pain."_

_Esuma's eyes went wide with horror. She staggered back again, a hand over her mouth and her long ears flattened against her scalp. Tommy? That thing… that thing was Tommy? And he was under the sorcerer's spell? The Sorcerer was using his pain, the pain SHE'd caused him… she had to help him, she had to break the spell and set her best friend free._

_Beldovy was suddenly beside her, holding her. "Esuma, what's wrong? Tommy's here? Who's with him? What's going on?" _

_He craned his neck to look out the window and paled, his own ears twitching but still standing tall._

"_How…?" he said. He then seemed to give up on asking questions and jumped out the fifth stories' window, screaming his brother's name. _

_Esuma followed and used air currents to deposit them both safely on the ground._

_The monster turned to her, and his eyes confirmed the Sorcerer's image's words: they were Tommy's. The ghostly sorcerer, now that all the players were in place, floated a safe distance upwards to watch._

"_PAIN!" the monster roared at Esuma and Beldovy. _

"_Oh, Princess," the Sorcerer said in mock reproach. "How could you hurt one of your future subjects so?"_

"_Tommy," Beldovy said, shaking his head in disbelief. "Oh, Tommy, I'm so sorry. I had no idea you still felt that way... Tommy, you can fight this. I know it hurts, but…"_

"_Pain…" the monster groaned in answer._

_The Sorcerer laughed. "Not just a subject, either: a friend AND the brother of your consort! You're not fit for the throne, you cruel girl. In fact, I really do feel you're only fit for the grave. My new pet will see to that, now."_

_Beldovy snarled at the Sorcerer. "YOU did this to him! Why? Why would you want him, or anyone, to attack Esuma? She's never done anything to anyone! She's beloved by all! What is WRONG with you?"_

"_Pain!" Tommy cackled._

_The Sorcerer chuckled in answer. "She hasn't done anything yet, and I intend for things to stay that way. I'm ending the threat she is now. Attack!" he added, addressing the monster he had turned Beldovy's twin into._

_The monster threw his head back and screamed "PAIN! PAIN!", seemingly telling off the very heavens. He then turned his glare to Esuma and bared its fangs at her. "Pain," it repeated, this time very distinctly addressing her._

4

- Present Time -

Esuma finally managed to force her mind back to the present, just in time to avoid reliving Beldovy's death again. She found herself slumped on the ground and scrambled up in a hurry, darting her eyes around in search of danger. She found none: the Soft Master's image was gone.

She turned to Tommy and Snake Eyes and swallowed. The Soft Master, by unlocking her memories, had also enabled her to finally recognize her two friends; it was no wonder the three of them had been able to get so close so quickly, they had known each other before the two men were even born, back before her parents had sent her to the future disguised as a human baby, back in what was, for the two ninja, a previous life.

She found her eyes resting on their ears, small and round and human, like hers were at the moment. The vision of the past was so vivid, even now that it was over, that the diminutive ears seemed unnatural. They weren't, of course, at least not for them: they had not been reborn as elves, possibly because there were no more elves to be reborn as.

She looked at Tommy and tears welled up in her eyes. She'd never wanted to hurt him, she loved him more than life itself. And yet, she had broken his heart and so had been as guilty of his transformation as the Sorcerer. She was also about to do it again, she'd have to; trying to avoid it would only make things even worse.

She turned her eyes to Snake Eyes and let out a small cry as her heart welled up and jumped in her chest. Other than the ears, he looked almost exactly the same as he had before. She wasn't aware of walking but she fell on her knees next to him and cradled him.

"Beldovy," she whispered. "Bel, please tell me you remember too. We've found each other again, you must remember me. Please…"

"Pain…" came Tommy's voice, a few paces to her left.

Her eyes widened and she bolted up, letting Snake Eye's head fall back to the thankfully soft grass. Tommy was still sprawled on the ground, facing up and moaning. She rushed to his side and shook him.

"Don't say that!" she begged him. "Wake up! Please wake up…!"

His eyes opened and locked on hers right away. "P… princess?" he muttered.

She felt her cheeks turn red: this was another part of the memory that she would just as soon have done without; not only was she a bit old to dream of being a princess, she had never really been that keen on the idea even as a little girl. She dimly wondered if it was simply because human nature is not to wish for things that one already has and brushed the thought away to focus on Tommy.

"Not anymore," she said. "Just Esuma. Tommy, it's the 21st century, remember? You're here as a gym teacher? All the bad stuff is over. Say something, please!"

He stared off into the distance for a second, processing what she had just said.

"I… yes. You're right, that was… the past… not…" he cast his eyes down. "That was me," he whispered. "I…"

"I'm so sorry," Esuma croaked, her beautiful eyes filling with tears and her pure voice breaking. "Tommy, I…"

"Stop," Tommy cut her off. "Please, don't. Don't apologize, I beg you. You were a child, you made a mistake, and I couldn't accept it."

Tommy shuddered violently. "Esuma, I.." he trailed off. Saying he was sorry was such an understatement that it was no better than a lie and an insult to the memory of Esuma's parents, to the memory of his then Queen and King.

"I killed them," he breathed, the words feeling like acid as they went through his mouth. "And I did it while trying to kill you…" he finally opted for the literal approach to stating his feelings. "Esuma, I can't even say I'm sorry because I'm too far beyond sorry. I won't ask for your forgiveness, I…"

She silenced him with a bear hug.

"Stop," she said. "Tommy, there's nothing to forgive. You were used by that Sorcerer, and he was able to do that because of what I did to you. I'm the one who did something wrong, and… and I…"

She pulled away and looked down. Tommy looked from her to Snake Eyes and lifted her chin to make her look him in the eyes again. It took some effort to say what he meant to while drowning in the purple oceans of her eyes and drinking in the beauty that her human disguise had not diminished in the slightest.

"Esuma, do you really think I'd even WANT to stand between you and your soul mate?" He refrained from asking her how she thought he'd dare make any claim on her heart after what he'd done because she had obviously somehow managed to twist what had happened in such a way as to blame herself.

Her tears started spilling, glistening against her cheeks. "I can't stand the thought of hurting you, I don't want to do it twice!" she said softly.

His first reaction was to tell her he deserved all the pain she could possibly inflict on him, but he kept the thought to himself. "Your being unhappy would be much more painful to me," he said instead.

Snake Eyes chose that moment to groan and gingerly sit up. Tommy let go of Esuma and turned to his brother – somehow, the thought of his being his blood brother felt completely right, even though it was only true in another life.

"Bel, I…" He stopped, surprised; the name had come out automatically. Snake Eyes did not react, so Storm Shadow mentally shrugged off the slip and continued. "I'm beyond sorry. You're relieved of your oath; I deserve no loyalty, from you or anyone else."

Snake Eyes blinked at Storm Shadow, dumbfounded. The idea that Tommy could blame himself for having been transformed into a monster by a sorcerer, who had succeeded in part because Beldovy, his twin brother, had stolen his girlfriend and broke his heart, was so ludicrous as to be hard to wrap his mind around.

"My oath stands more than ever," he finally said. "You're not to blame for what happened, I am." He swallowed, looked at Esuma and felt his heart breaking; remembering what they had shared, despite the consequences that had befallen all three of them because of it, made him ache to share the same bond again. He wasn't going to make the same selfish decision as last time, however. Even though she looked so painfully beautiful, even though she had fought so bravely, even though her tears revealed how good her heart was, Tommy was in love with her and he had been there for her first, so Snake Eyes would let the past be the past and not interfere with them. "I can't undo what I did, but I swear I will never betray you like that again."

Tommy caught the look and sighed; obviously, Snake Eyes was going to try and be noble and stay away from Esuma despite the fact his eyes made it painfully clear that he had regained all the feelings he used to have for her. He got up and pulled Esuma to her feet as well. Esuma looked devastated, and Tommy guessed she interpreted Snake Eyes' comment the same way he did.

He took a deep breath and gently pushed Esuma towards Snake Eyes.

"I'm sorry, Esuma, but we're through," he said sternly. "I have no interest in keeping you chained to me when your heart belongs to another. Go with your soul mate."

Snake Eyes' eyebrows shot up and he got up to face Esuma. They just looked at each other for several seconds before he pulled her into a deep kiss that had been centuries in the waiting.

Esuma felt tears rolling down her cheeks again, this time from being so happy it hurt. She wrapped her arms around Snake Eyes' neck and returned the kiss, giving herself to her sense of touch and her always sharp sense of taste, savoring the feel of her love's lips on hers and exploring their taste. She was reminded of bright summer days filled with happiness, of the BBQs her adoptive father used to throw for the whole neighborhood when she was little, before his current assignment. She smiled through the kiss, feeling at home, feeling complete. Snake Eyes didn't just taste like BBQ, he tasted like her happiest memories.

Storm Shadow looked aside and willed his eyes to stay dry. This was right, this was what was meant to be, and the pain he felt now, the deep ache radiating from his heart, was wholly deserved.

Besides, knowing that they would have each other made leaving that much easier.


	12. Chapter 12: Endings

**Chapter 12: Endings**

1

It was a testament to the adaptability of people that school had reopened for the afternoon. Esuma had sat through her classes as though nothing had happened, perfectly hiding the storm of her thoughts and her nearly overwhelming desire to be with Bel and Tommy.

She was at her locker after the last class of the day, hurrying to put on her jacket and her boots so she could go to their usual meeting spot a block away from the school, when Lily came running to her.

"Where is he?" Lily asked in a hurried whisper. "Did he get hurt again?"

Esuma's eyes went wide. "Tommy's not here?" she asked. "Oh, no…"

She stuffed her gloves in her pockets and took off running without bothering to zip up her jacket. To her surprise, Lily managed to almost keep up; it was then that Esuma noticed her friend had not been out of breath after running to her locker, and thinking back, it occurred to her that almost everyone in school seemed to be in better shape lately.

She bit her lip, thinking that it was Tommy's doing and wondering where her friend was, not at all liking how much like their past life this was. She went to the gym first, but as she suspected, Storm Shadow was not there. She continued towards Snake Eyes' store room without pausing, Lily falling a bit more behind now, but having been joined at some point by Marie.

They found Snake Eyes in the middle of putting on his own jacket and skidded to a halt next to him.

"Tommy never came back," Esuma said, her voice breaking. She felt tears brimming in her eyes and willed them away: this was no time to panic.

Snake Eyes's eyes widened. "Oh no…" he breathed. "Not again…"

"He wouldn't disappear without telling Esuma," Marie intervened. "He knows she loves him…" she trailed off at their expressions. "Why are you making those faces?"

"We broke up this morning," Esuma whispered, casting her eyes down. "It's a long story, but…"

"He still wouldn't," Snake Eyes interrupted. "Let's go, he probably just didn't feel like working this afternoon. For all we know, he's waiting for us at the usual spot."

"We're coming too," Lily announced.

Esuma and Snake Eyes were in no mood to argue and so, the group of four hurriedly left the school and ran more than they walked to Esuma's, Storm Shadow's and Snake Eyes' usual rendezvous spot, a small tots park that was usually deserted during the week, save for the two ninjas and Esuma.

They found the park empty.

"Tommy?" Esuma called. "I can't see you. Are you here?"

"He's not," Snake Eyes answered. "I'd know. Let's try his place."

"We should check your place on the way there," Marie said, addressing Esuma. "Maybe he left a message?"

Esuma resisted the urge to scream that Tommy had no reason to leave a message, because that was something people did when they were leaving, and he couldn't possibly have left. "I don't think so," she replied instead in a whisper designed to force her voice to stay level, "but it doesn't hurt to check. Maybe he's talking to Oliaf and the others."

They walked at a nearly normal pace towards Esuma's house, most of them too afraid of what they would find there to really hurry. Esuma forced herself to accelerate when the thought hit her that if Tommy was indeed gone, they needed to find out and start looking for him as soon as possible. She started running when they reached her street, tears streaming down her eyes, increasingly certain she'd find a goodbye note of some kind and praying she was wrong.

She wasn't. Sop flew to meet them as soon as they stepped in, and looked as embarrassed as a budgie can as she dropped a rolled-up piece of paper in Esuma's hand. Thanks to Esuma's growing skills in telepathy, the bird was able to talk to her without Oliaf's help.

_We're sorry,_ she said. _We're too small to stop him. Falpis tried to bite his feet, but he just stuffed him in the closet. I got him out, and Racno glared at Tommy right from on top of his nose, but…_

Esuma cut off contact to read the note, but she couldn't make it out through her tears. She handed it to Snake Eyes.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "It's addressed to you."

Esuma nodded, sobbing in her hands.

"I…" Snake Eyes hesitated: he was much keener on hugging Esuma than anything else at the moment; seeing her crying like that was painful.

"Better idea," Lily said, grabbing the note. She nudged Snake Eyes towards Esuma. "I read, you hug. It's obvious WHY Esuma broke up with Tommy, so don't bother denying, okay?"

Snake Eyes didn't have time to protest: Esuma was buried against him before Lily was even done talking. He contented himself with holding her small form tightly against him, stroking her luscious white hair.

"Dear Esuma," Lily read.

"I am so sorry to leave like this. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me for causing you such distress as I know you will endure at my sudden disappearance, although I honestly feel I don't deserve so much as a flutter of concern from your heart."

"I wish I could have talked to you in person; even as I write this, I long to hold you in my arms and to exchange proper goodbyes, as close friends would. I knew, however, that both you and Snake Eyes would do everything in your power to try and prevent my departure; I could not allow that. You may have succeeded in delaying me, or even in convincing me to stay; as much as I loathe to admit it, it may not have been all that difficult to do so as leaving you is the most difficult thing I've ever had to do. I don't need to tell you how weak-willed I can be: our past demonstrated that quite clearly."

"This weakness is the very reason I had to leave. Esuma… even as only a friend, you remain the light of my life and regardless of what political system we may live under, you remain my princess. I know you bear no anger towards me, you've told me so and I know you wouldn't lie to me. As much as your forgiveness and your affection lighten my heart, however, they cannot undo what I have done; I cannot bear the thought of it, and the fear that it may happen again consumes me."

"I would sooner die than allow the Sorcerer the slightest chance to use me against you again. I must prevent it by any means necessary; I have to make sure he cannot make me his slave and weapon again; I won't hurt you again, I won't kill my brother again, I won't betray my King and Queen and destroy everything I hold dear. Even writing this is painful, I can't stand the thought of letting it happen again."

"Staying close to you both is simply too risky for now. I break my own heart by walking away from you, but it is a small price to pay to keep you and the man you love safe. I refuse to endanger you and cost you your happiness again."

"But though I part from you without so much as a last glance at your eyes, without seeing your smile one last time, I still have hope. I know someone who can help me gain full control over my mind and my heart; I will find him and when I can be trusted again, when I am certain that the Sorcerer will not be able to mold me to his dark designs again, I will come back and together, the three of us will face him and hopefully put an end to his evil."

"No word can express how much I will miss you, but it is some consolation to know Snake Eyes and yourself will look after each other and take care of each other. Please allow your hearts to grow as close as they once were and do not burden your love with misplaced feelings of guilt or regret, and don't you dare believe that I left, as I was once foolish enough to do, out of a broken heart. I leave to protect you; you are better off without me for now, safer. By removing myself, I remove the greatest threat to your safety. I live in hope to meet again soon,"

"Arashikage Tomisaburo."

Lily swallowed and looked up. Esuma was looking at her with horrified eyes, and Snake Eyes was looking furious.

"Idiot," the ninja growled. "Stupid IDIOT! He's going to try and find McCullen, he wants nanomites to control himself so the Soft Master can't! He'll only end up being controlled by McCullen instead!"

2

Storm Shadow leaned back in the train seat, thinking hard. He needed to find out where McCullen was held and to break him out. In itself, he wouldn't have thought this would be a big challenge, but then he'd been trying to do just that for months now, and he'd made no progress.

On the other hand, it hadn't been nearly so urgent before now. Until now, breaking out McCullen was more a matter of principle than anything else; the man had been trying to save the World, it wasn't fair that he should be imprisoned. But suddenly, Tommy desperately needed his help, and needed it fast before the Soft Master could warp his mind again and turn him against Esuma and Bel.

He had spent the last few months looking for answers everywhere, and found nothing. GI Joe had kept the location where McCullen and the Doctor were detained carefully hidden; there were simply no clues anywhere. And, when there were no answers to be found without, it was time to find them within.

The ninja closed his eyes and, concentrating, entered the _Amaterasu no me_ trance and thus borrowed the eyes of the Sun Goddess.

At first, he saw only the infinite waters of the Ocean. He concentrated on the thought of his former employer, and the Ocean loomed closer until he could see, lost somewhere in the liquid desert, a military ship. He willed his vision to get closer to the vessel until he could see the name painted on its side, and then made the eyes of the Sun Goddess penetrate the hull to find two cells, inside which were McCullen and the Doctor.

When he tried to ask Amaterasu's Eyes for where the ship would be when he borded it, however, the USS Flagg disappeared and the Ocean turned an inky black that blotted out into the sky until Tommy could no longer see anything.

He snapped out of the trance, trembling. The Goddess was telling him he would not board the ship. He barely had time to wonder why: a giant bird's claw suddenly burst through his seat's window, wrapped around him too fast for him to react and quick as lightning, pulled him out of the train and into the heavens.

Struggle as he might, Storm Shadow's arms were pinned to his sides and he was completely powerless as the bird flew him away at an incredible speed. The air rushed past Tommy so fast that he could hardly breathe, and his eyes blurred with tears. All he could make out of the bird was its color, but it was more than enough to confirm who had sent it: the bird was white, with a streak of dirty orange linking its chest to its head.

3

Marie turned on the television, more out of escapism than anything else. Lily joined her, seemingly sharing her difficulty in dealing with what had just happened. Esuma was sitting in the lotus position, her face tense with concentration as she tried to contact Storm Shadow telepathically, and Snake Eyes kept typing away at the computer, hacking into the different public transport databases to try and find a trace of his sword brother.

The soap that was on when Lily turned on the television was suddenly interrupted by an emergency news broadcast.

"Good afternoon. We have an update on the giant bird incident," the news anchor said, looking professionally excited. "Robert?"

The feed changed to a journalist standing outside of a train station in the company of an elderly lady.

"Thank you Mike," the journalist said. "Yes, we have a witness to the incident. Mrs Johnson, can you tell us what you saw?"

"Well, it was all very fast," Mrs Johnson said. "I saw this claw grab this young man, and then they were gone."

Robert looked suitably horrified and turned back to the camera. "Mike, we've confirmed that a male passenger is indeed missing, and there is a bag under the seat next to the broken window. I think it's clear that the giant bird that attacked a train almost two hours ago has kidnapped one of that train's passengers."

Esuma and Snake Eyes had joined Lily and Marie by the television set by this point. The four looked at each other.

"You don't think…?" Esuma started.

"Could it be…?" Snake Eyes wondered.

"Well, yeah," Lily said. "Who else would get themselves snatched out of a train by a giant bird?"

4

Storm Shadow kept expecting the bird to just let go of him and let him fall to his doom, but instead, he was carried to a vast plain and deposited back on the ground unharmed; winded, cold, confused and lost, but unharmed.

He shakily got to his feet and looked around. At first, there was nothing to see but wild grass, weeds and cloudy sky, with hills and mountains in the distance, but suddenly, the air shimmered a few feet ahead of him.

He adopted a guarding stance and, digging his hands in the bottomless pockets of his pants, which had been designed precisely for that purpose, took out a pair of short swords from the sheaths strapped to his thighs.

The shimmery air solidified into the form of the Soft Master, who smirked at the sight of the two short blades.

"Oh my goodness gracious me!" he said. "Are you going to poke me with these little toys?"

Storm Shadow stayed put, waiting for the Sorcerer to make the first move. He knew that his only chance of surviving this fight was to be flawless and to capitalize on the first mistake the Soft Master made.

"Why look at you, all ready to fight, looking so serious and focused. Do you know what I'm going to do, now?"

Storm Shadow did not answer, standing his ground, waiting. He was dearly hoping the Soft Master would try to kill him, because he stood a better chance of preventing that than of preventing the Sorcerer from magically taking over his mind again, and the consequences if he did NOT prevent it were infinitely preferable: he'd just be dead, he wouldn't be attacking Esuma again.

"To be honest, turning you into my puppet did not yield the best results, last time," the Soft Master said. "Your only job was to kill the princess, and you failed spectacularly. On top of that, I'm not sure I'd be able to control you nearly so completely this time around: you're older and wiser than you were back then, and not nearly as self-absorbed."

Storm Shadow stayed still, carefully keeping his expression neutral and hiding any reaction to what the Sorcerer was saying.

"Also," the Soft Master continued, "I will confess that I tend to hold grudges. You failed me, Tommy, and you will never be done paying for that. You will die today, and have no doubt that it will take a while, and that it will hurt."

5

Esuma swallowed back the tears that were welling up in her eyes: tears would not help. She ran outside to the pond, followed closely by Snake Eyes, Lily and Marie.

"Do you think Oliaf can help find him?" Snake Eyes asked when they stopped at the edge of the fish's domain.

"There's got to be a way, one of them is bound to know it," Esuma replied, her thick, smooth white hair glowing in the recessing sun light.

_Racno, Sop, Oliaf, Falpis!_ she called telepathically. _I need help… Tommy needs help! PLEASE!_

Her four familiars answered immediately: Oliaf came near the surface, Falpis appeared from behind a bush and curled against her leg, Racno flew down towards her and Sop landed on her shoulder.

_Sop told us he left a note and left,_ Racno said. _What happened?_

"The three of us recovered our memories," Esuma said. "I… he…" she took a deep breath. "he broke up with me, because…"

Sop sighed. _Because he could tell you two were still in love with each other,_ she said.

"He feels what happened is his fault," Snake Eyes said.

"Did we mention yet that he was snatched from a train by a giant bird? That's kind of the important part, here," Lily said.

"Right," Esuma said hurriedly. "We need to find him. How do we do it?"

The four animals were silent for a moment, which was a moment longer than Snake Eyes' or Esuma's patience allowed.

"You can't tell me there's no magical way to find someone!" he said.

"Don't hide it if there's a way!" Esuma added. "I promise I'll be careful, I won't use too much magic!"

_It's not that,_ Racno finally said. _The problem is that most of the ways we know detect someone's magical signature. Humans don't have enough of one to track… most don't have one at all._

"Most?" Esuma said quickly. "Which ones don't?"

_Which ONE_, Oliaf replied. _And it requires the caster be very close to the person being sought. It may have worked if you were his true soul mate, but as it is…_

"We ARE close!" Esuma protested. "Show me how, we'll at least try!"

_Open your mind, kid, I'll teach you,_ Falpis said. _Won't hurt to try, especially considering it's pretty much our only chance to find him._

Esuma ignored the pessimism and opened her mind as instructed. The knowledge entered her mind almost instantly and she started the sung spell right away, closing her eyes in concentration and joining her hands in prayer.

"Dear One,

Child of the Earth, hear my voice,

You who know the secret of my heart,

Call to me and help me find you again,

Let our souls join again!"

She waited, and felt nothing. She sang again, her voice quivering with tears, but still, she could feel no hint of where her friend may be. She sank to her knees, tears flowing freely and glistening on her perfect skin, and tried again.

Nothing happened.

6

Storm Shadow ignored the threat, but found himself wondering why the monster had not simply killed him a long time ago, before he could possibly have the chance to befriend Esuma and thus become troublesome.

The Soft Master seemed to read his mind. "I have waited a long time for this, you know? I couldn't kill you as a child, the King and Queen saw to that by tying your life to your fate: until you realized your destiny and became Esuma's protector, you could not die."

Storm Shadow shifted his weight slightly, readying for his foe to stop talking and attack. From wondering why the Sorcerer had not gotten rid of him much earlier, his thoughts shifted to ponder the reason why the Soft Master had even tried to have Snake Eyes kill him before if he knew he couldn't die. He did not want to show any fear or emotion, or even curiosity, so he didn't ask.

"You're probably wondering, then, why I told Snake Eyes to kill you?" the Soft Master said, guessing again. "Well…" he paused and smiled, obviously pleased with himself, "it still hurt when he almost did, didn't it? And besides, it kept both of you busy and out of Esuma's path. I wouldn't have minded in the slightest if he had 'killed' you like this several times, only for you to survive every time to and for him to consequently never fulfill his oath."

Storm Shadow could not completely suppress a snarl, and the Soft Master laughed.

"When I felt that the spell protecting you had collapsed, I located you and attacked you. When the Princess showed up, I thought I was finally going to be able to eliminate her… I was, as you well know, disappointed. The three of you will pay for THAT, too." The Soft Master's voice rose. "She must die! I won't allow her to fulfill that prophecy!"

The Soft Master took a deep breath and resumed in his normal tone, smirking again. "But enough talking."

As he said it, he flew at Storm Shadow, much too fast for the ninja to block properly, and punched through his right shoulder, the fist glowing and coming out on the opposite side, causing blood to spray and Storm Shadow to finally break his silence by letting out a yelp of pain.

Storm Shadow's left sword was almost as fast and cut a deep slash through the Soft Master's belly as he was backing up.

The wound closed itself almost instantly, but the Sorcerer hissed, annoyed at having been hit.

Storm Shadow glared at the man he had thought to be his uncle, and the Sorcerer smirked back.

"Awh, does my little nephew hate me?" he asked. "Do you hate that even now, I control YOUR family? Do you hate that I have been methodically purging the clan of any trace of honor and made the name Arashikage synonym with dirty work and bloodshed? Are you angry over my killing your uncle, and before that, your father and mother?"

Tommy snarled and his eyes trailed to the Soft Master's arm, to the mark of the clan. Forgetting any plan to wait for an opening, he charged at the Sorcerer.

There was a flash of light, a lot of smoke, and before he even got close to where the Soft Master had been standing, Storm Shadow was knocked back by a giant tentacle coming out of the smoke. The impact was so strong that he felt a few ribs break, and he slammed into the ground violently enough to injure his back.

The smoke dissipated to reveal, standing where the Soft Master had been, what could best be described as a very big and ugly tentacle monster. It was, unsurprisingly, orange. Storm Shadow counted nine tentacles, each wider in diameter than he was, and each several feet long. On the rightmost tentacle, Tommy spotted the one thing that identified the monster as the Sorcerer: the mark of the Arashikage, just visible in red on the orange flesh.

Storm Shadow got up gingerly and, ignoring the blood pouring from both sides of his shoulder, his injured back and his painfully broken ribs, he charged again. He charged because defending had proven useless, and because he thought it would be unexpected.

He never found out whether it was or not; the monster moved too fast for it to matter. As soon as Tommy was within range, two of the tentacles grabbed him and wrapped themselves around him, tighter and tighter, pushing his arms into his sides until he couldn't breath anymore. His vision started to fill with black dots and the World was slipping away, but he was brutally brought back to consciousness by the pressure breaking more of his ribs, pushing them inwards and by the feels of it, causing them to scrape against his lungs.

He cried out but he still had no air left in his lungs and no sound came out. The tentacles tossed him aside again, this time sending him head first into the ground. He heard a crack and the black dots that had clouded his visions changed to bright spots of light.

Instinct told him more pain was coming, so he rolled away, making his broken ribs move about in his chest again, causing an explosion of pain. The tentacle he avoided followed his roll and hit him sideways instead of directly, sending him careening even further and drawing another scream.

The monster laughed, its voice nearly unchanged from that of its borrowed human form. "Aren't you going to start begging yet, varmint? Surely you see by now that I did not lie to you when I said you were going to die today, slowly and painfully!"

Storm Shadow dragged himself back up shakily. He did indeed see that the monster would make good on his promise and that survival was simply not in the cards. He was not, however, going to beg. Begging would change nothing. There was, however, still one thing he could do, one wrong he could right, be it with his dying breath.

7

Snake Eyes, Lily and Marie stared in shock, temporarily unable to even dream of thinking of what to do next. Esuma was in a similar condition, still trying to sing although she was now on her knees, pounding the ground with her fists, and sobbing too much for the lyrics of the song to be intelligible.

She couldn't give up. This was their last chance, Tommy's last chance! Snake Eyes' voice cut through her increasingly desperate song and her distress.

"Esuma, let ME try. We grew up together for a while, we're sword brothers, and we've spent a lot of time training lately…"

_Don't fool yourself,_ Falpis said. _If you were real brothers, you may have a chance; but honestly, you're a childhood enemy turned friend. If Esuma could not find him, you don't have a hope._

_He's right,_ Racno sighed. _You don't understand; friendship is not enough. This spell was meant for people to be able to find close relatives or spouses._

_Shake it off, girl,_ Oliaf said, not unkindly. _Give your tear ducts a rest and use your brains to think of…_

"Dear One,

Child of the Earth,"

The fish stopped mid-sentence when Snake Eyes started to sing. All eyes turned to the ninja, and everyone simultaneously forgot to breathe. They would forever remember this moment, for they were hearing singing so pure and perfect that they would never again be able to tolerate untalented singers and would only ever appreciate the greatest, most flawless performances from here on out.

Oblivious to them, Snake Eyes kept singing, head slightly tilted back, eyes closed and fists clenched at his sides.

"hear my voice,

You who know the secret of my heart,"

_It's working?_ Sop whispered, his mental voice shaky from the shock. _But it can't, they've been reborn!_

"Shh!" Esuma urged, looking wide-eyed at Snake Eyes; the ninja had started to glow, which she presumed was why Sop knew or thought the spell was working. Sop went quiet, and everyone else followed suit so that Beldovy's song filled their ears and minds.

"Call to me and help me find you again,

Let our souls join again!"

The glow surrounding Snake Eyes intensified to blinding light as the reborn elf reached the end of the song, and dimmed back into nothingness when the ninja's voice died.

"I know where he is," Snake Eyes announced, his eyes opening.

He looked far from happy to have acquired the information they had all so dearly wanted. His next sentence revealed why.

"He's in England, not very far from Stonehenge."

There were a few seconds of silence as everyone digested that even if they hurried to the airport and managed to steal a plane to go straight to the right part of England, it would still take them several hours to reach Storm Shadow.

_Don't look so down, kid,_ Falpis said, his little ferret features stretched in what passed for a smile for him. _You just have to teleport._

8

Tommy looked around for his swords; he was no longer holding them but wasn't sure exactly when he had lost his grip on them. He located them under the tentacles of the monster and, tuning out the Soft Master, who was still busy promising him endless pain and torment, dove for them.

The Sorcerer laughed and one of the tentacles slashed at the ninja, catching him across the abdomen and throwing him back several feet.

Storm Shadow grinned, oblivious to the stinging pain and to the blood now pouring from his belly as much as from his shoulder: he had one sword back. He resisted looking down at his new injury, reasoning that if his guts were seeping out, as it seemed by the feels of it, he really didn't need to see it.

The Soft Master smirked too. "Awh, look at the cute little pathetic human, with his little pointy toy back," he cooed. "Go on, then, Tomisaburo: cut me."

The monster extended one tentacle right in front of Tommy. Storm Shadow narrowed his eyes and, with a skillfull slash, sliced it neatly in two even as he jumped over it towards another one. The movement sent pain ripping through his body as he stretched the cut in his abdomen. He felt something wet yet solid on his skin and clenched his teeth, making himself ignore the pain, pushing back the disgust at feeling his own innards on the outside of his belly. He landed at a run and slashed through three more tentacles before the Sorcerer decided the point was made and slapped him across the face with one of his five remaining limbs. The hit was hard enough to break Storm Shadow's jaw and make his already hurting head ring. He fell with a groan, just managing to land sideways, facing the cut tentacles, and to stay conscious.

The Sorcerer roared in laughter as the cut limbs grew back and the old ones turned to dust.

"You see, Tomisaburo? You can't win! Your swords cannot injure me, no weapon can!"

Storm Shadow pealed himself back up from the ground, holding the bit of intestine that was hanging out of him, and squinted at the tentacles through the black dots clouding his vision again. He could tell he was bleeding out, both from the gaping hole in his shoulder and from the deep cut across his abdomen. He still had several minutes, however; more than enough.

He took a deep breath and cast his mind away from every physical sensation; he would not allow himself to fail. It was bad enough that he was failing Esuma, that he would no longer be able to protect her; he would not fail his family, too.

Gripping his sword in both hands, ignoring the overwhelming pain in his midsection and the comparatively minor pain from his shoulder, head, back and ribs, he ran to the tentacle that bore the mark of the Arashikage. His sword severed it above the hexagram just as a different tentacle drove right through him, just under his diaphragm, impaling him through. He gasped and again, had to fight to stay conscious. He needed to see, he needed to know it worked.

"Idiot," laughed the Soft Master, lifting him close to his monstrous face. "I must admit that it IS fitting. Your last act will have been a pointless, angry lashing out. I don't even feel pain, you foolish human! Esuma's protector… how do you intend to protect her from the grave? I bet you convinced yourself that you were leaving for her safety? Nothing to do with being unable to stand watching her kiss her lover?"

Storm Shadow had no strength left to wince, but felt another jolt of pain, this one coming from his heart. The Sorcerer was wrong on his motives, Tommy really had left to protect Esuma and Snake Eyes from himself, but there was no denying that his heart was still broken. More painful, though, was the reminder that by leaving, he had betrayed Esuma again; he wouldn't hurt her this time around, but he had abandoned her and thus, deprived her of half her protectors.

"Here, see how worthless your efforts have been and understand that the same is true for your life!"

The Sorcerer lifted the tentacle Storm Shadow had cut to show it to him, whole once more.

The last heir of the Arashikage smiled through the pain of his broken heart, through his regrets over leaving Esuma, and in spite of his many injuries.

"I thought so," he croaked. "They grow back and the old ones dissolve…" everything went black, but Tommy hung on through sheer willpower; he needed to speak the words. "You no longer bear the mark of the Arashikage. Your dishonor is no longer ours," he finished.

The ceremony over, he relaxed. Death felt like a cool blanket wrapping around him, healing the wounds in his soul and body, leaving him completely at peace.

The Sorcerer scowled as he shook the body off his tentacle. It fell to the ground limply, lifeless but not yet rigid, with an infuriatingly peaceful expression upon its face.

Although the act of cutting off the tattooed arm was indeed how the Arashikage ceremoniously disowned disgraced clan members and absolved themselves of those clan members' actions, the gesture was in fact not going to cause the Sorcerer any harm: he had no more use for the ninja clan anyway. Besides, nobody had seen the incident, so if he ever did want to pass as an Arashikage again, he could reproduce the tattoo or even take over another body.

The irritating part was simply that Tomisaburo had managed to die feeling like he'd accomplished something. As a rule, the Sorcerer preferred for people to die miserable.

9

Esuma and Snake Eyes sang the last notes of the teleporting spell a little more than two hours after Storm Shadow had made the news by being taken from his train by a giant bird. The spell worked beautifully, engulfing them in a warm, bright cocoon that dissolved to reveal a large plain.

Esuma gasped and her eyes filled with tears: there was dried blood everywhere, but what was worse was that the Soft Master was nowhere to be seen. Snake Eyes swallowed and cast his eyes around: Tommy was still here, he was sure of it. He spotted a figure in the grass just a bit to his left.

He walked softly to it without alerting Esuma, who was walking in the other direction, looking for her friend. His own vision blurred when he looked down at the prone figure. He'd never wanted to scream so much in his life, but he needed to step away, he needed to take Esuma away from here. There was no need for her to see this.

His feet refused to move, his eyes refused to leave the body. He fell to his knees, feeling numb, and his eyes trailed to his sword brother's neck, where the head was no longer attached. There was no blood there, revealing Tommy had already been dead when he'd been decapitated.

Snake Eyes wasn't quite aware of moving, but found himself cradling the headless body. He looked around and easily located the disembodied head just a few steps further. He buried his face in his brother's chest and sobbed helplessly.

He soon heard Esuma scream from right behind him, a scream filled with both horror and heartbreak. He gently deposited the body and turned to pull her into a tight hug in one fluid motion.

**A/N**

Things happened faster than I was originally planning, thus a scene summarizing a couple months worth of events in chapter 11 rather than a few chapters describing these events, but I really wanted to write this last chapter before I ended this, even though I fully expect hardly anybody will react to it.

That expectation is part of why this is where I stop writing the story, although it's not where it ends (in the sense I had a lot more planned). It's still kind of fun to write, but not enough to make up for the repeated disappointment over the near complete lack of feedback. I have several other projects I'm working on and Flames of Paradise is simply not worth the time I've been putting into it anymore: beyond the fact it's plain frustrating, the lack of feedback robs this story of its purpose.

I've been saying from the start that I was trying to learn from this, and that I really needed people to let me know what they thought of it as I went along. I wanted participation, I wanted some interaction; I've been practically begging to hear from readers, in good or in bad, basically to no avail. I'm concluding you are just not interested enough to invest a minute or two to review or PM me. I know most readers here don't review anything, I've seen a lot of other stories get just as little feedback as mine per chapter or even less, but that just tells me I won't get much better results than what I already am no matter what I try, and for reasons I won't explain here, it further erodes any motivation to write this story.

Just in case anyone is worried, let me assure you this is not a crushing blow to me and that I'm not sitting here crying. If anything, I'm looking forward to spending more time on my other projects. :)

My deepest apologies to LinuxGirl and the very few others who were enjoying the story and reviewed, the thought of disappointing you is the only downer in all this.

I will probably post the epilogue within the next week, and I plan to include what the rest of the story would have been (in highly summarized form), if anyone is curious. I will also, as promised, share what I've learned (not much as it turns out…).

If the end of this chapter upset anyone, I'm sorry. It was necessary for the story that this happen, you'll see why when you read the epilogue, and I really wanted to write these scenes. Considering the feedback I've been getting as of late, I don't think much anyone IS upset, but I figured I'd throw this in here just in case.


	13. Chapter 13: Epilogue

**Epilogue to Flames of Paradise**

I promised when I started the story that I would share my findings. I'm afraid I don't have as much to share as I had hoped, due to a persistent lack of actual feedback. Just the same, based on what feedback I did receive, here's what it looks like.

… Actually, this won't make sense unless I start by telling you what it was I was trying to find out and let you know what would have happened if I'd finish the story.

Summary of things to come...

So, by the end of chapter 12, Esuma and Snake Eyes have just found Storm Shadow's body, and he is most definitely dead.

Thankfully, Esuma figures out Sop is a Phoenix and in addition to control over fire, he also held the power to restore life (that's the secondary power for fire). She calls upon it, but the magic is so strong that she screams in pain and her body starts breaking down. She refuses to give up, however, and the magic kicks in. It restores her first, to her body as it was meant to be before she was disguised by her parents: an adult elf, dressed in battle garments identical to the ones her mother wore. Her real body is better at handling magic and she is able to revive Storm Shadow.

The three go back to school to prepare for the monster's return and the final battle. Things are relatively peaceful for a short while, with Storm Shadow becoming more genuinely accepting due in big part to the fact Esuma still loves him, if only as a close friend, and with Snake Eyes becoming a romantic, doing all sorts of little romantic things for Esuma. The school teams progress by leaps and bounds. The trio is trying to find the Soft Master, but has no luck at all. There are regular attacks by various monsters, which is not only a distraction but also saps their energy. Through it all, Esuma disguises herself to look normal.

When the attack finally does happen, the Sorcerer has a small army of monsters. Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes call upon the ancestral magic of the Arashikage clan to assist Esuma and to prevent her from having to use too much magic. She nearly does anyway, but the battle is won and all three are alive, if a bit worse for the wear. Esuma's identity has been revealed, but she's accepted as she is. Storm Shadow is finally convinced the world can't be changed globally and chooses to remain at school to at least guide the students to the right path. Snake Eyes goes back to GI Joe and as soon as Esuma is legal, they marry.

Oh, and a relatively new addition: I was going to reveal Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes were in fact identical twins, with Snake Eyes having been magically disguised and sent away by the Soft Master, who eventually chose to kill the Hard Master not only to set Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow against each other, but also because the old man went and took Snake Eyes, who he thought was just a homeless child, back into the clan. Baby Snake Eyes was sent to an orphanage and ended up homeless by age 6 when the orphanage was burnt down by terrorists, who killed all the other orphans one after the other. Snake Eyes was thought dead too, woke up in the rubbles and fled.

He finds his way back to Japan years later by running away from dangerous criminals who want to kill him following his defending a little girl from them: he manages to stow away on a boat out of desperation, and upon being found, spends weeks as the sailors' slave until they dump him overboard. He just manages to swim to coast, which is part of the reason he was so hungry that night.

And because the devil's in the details, to be romantic, Snake Eyes would have done all the things mentioned in the song 'That's How You Know' from Disney's Enchanted.

You may have noticed that GI Joe (or even just Hawk) does not reappear. One of many things that can be noticed…

But seriously...

Flames of Paradise was basically a parody: a slow boiling frog experiment. (It is said that if you toss a frog in boiling water, it will jump out; but if you toss it in cold water and gradually increase the temperature, it will stay put and boil.) Storm Shadow, my OC Esuma and later on, Snake Eyes, all gradually exhibited more and more Mary Sue and Gary Stu traits. Their scores, at the end, would have been:

Esuma: 145

Storm Shadow: 85

Snake Eyes: 70

These are approximations, of course. I could have changed my mind before the end on some things. Just the same, those all fall well into to "Kill it dead!" category of the Litmus Test (that category starts at 50 points). By the end of chapter 12, they were at:

Esuma: 120

Storm Shadow: 63

Snake Eyes: 53

Additionally, any other GI Joe character disappeared right quick, with the exception of the Soft Master, making the story more and more about the very out of character Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes and mostly, about Esuma.

On top of that, the very genre veered more and more into fantasy and magical girl series than the slightly sci-fi military action of the GI Joe movie.

That being said, one thing I did not do is botch the writing – I'll admit I didn't do much proofreading and made very little effort to plug plot holes (I figured they would naturally multiply and widen, adding heat to the boiling water to cook that frog), but I honestly tried to make a story that was fun to read, whether or not you realized its flaws. If you didn't mind the Sues, the holes and the fact it was pure name dropping past the first couple of chapters, you had a lot of plot twists, drama and romance to enjoy. If you did realize all that, you hopefully found it fun too (at least it was to the few people who knew about this from the start).

Don't believe this was not a serious story? Alright, please consider the following (this is not a complete list by any means):

1) Esuma Yr is an anagram of Mary Sue. Beldovy Orade is an anagram of Dead Lover Boy.

2) Esuma has white hair and purple eyes. I kept saying I had a good reason for it… it's not because she's an elf (they're allowed normal colouring), it's because she's a Mary Sue.

3) Lily is the Hebrew meaning of the name Susan, making Esuma's two best friends' names variations on Mary and Sue. Lily was originally called Susannah, but it seemed too obvious.

4) Esuma is Hawk's daughter, she's a magical girl elf princess, she's gorgeous and everyone likes her, etc. etc. etc. Oh, and she has four pets… let's talk about them just a bit, or rather, their names.

5) Racno the dragonfly: Ridiculous Animal Companion Number One

6) Sop the budgie/phoenix: Second Obligatory Pet

7) Oliaf the goldfish: Oh Look, It's Another Familiar (also works as oh look! It's a fish!)

8) Falpis the ferret: Fourth and Last Pet, I Swear.

9) Storm Shadow is a Gary Stu too: he's lost any trace of being a villain (unless you count explaining he was trying to save the World by working with McCullen), he's handsome and sexy (okay, that much can be considered canon for the movie-verse), he had a truly miserable childhood; his broken heart was used to transform him into a monster in his past life, he sacrifices his feelings for Esuma's and SE's happiness, he keeps getting killed (or almost killed) by being heroic (this was summarized at the beginning of chapter 11), he makes all the crazy-bad teams at school improve very quickly, etc.

10) Snake Eyes was more tricky – he's kind of an incredible Hero in most versions of canon already. The plan was to Stu-ify him by making him incredibly handsome and a great singer, making him a romantic by getting him to express his love in all the ways mentioned in 'That's how you know' from the movie Enchanted, and making sure to give him a tragic past too (in fact I would have polished it until it was as bad as I could make it) and make him save the day whenever Storm died (or almost) trying. Most of that actually got lost due to the story ending now, just at the end of the Storm Shadow act. I did manage to make him an amazing singer, and make him taste like BBQ – I was amazed nobody reacted to that, it was a purposely tasteless reference to the comic books where SE's face was severely burnt, making him so disfigured he felt the need to keep his face hidden pretty much at all times.

11) Don't feel bad if you can't figure out how the title relates to the story: it really doesn't. I'm sure you could make something up to make it fit (flames and paradise are both concepts that can be stretched to represent a lot of things and the story involves actual fire a few times, and people that are, at various point, happy) but in actuality, it was just the cheesiest title I could come up with at the time.

I hope that helps clear up any doubt. :D

While I'm on a roll listing things, here are some things I did just to mask my scent:

1) Did not use dashes. I normally abuse them, although ironically, not nearly as much now that I've had practice with doing without them;

2) American spelling – I usually use Canadian/British;

3) Numbered sections – I usually just use line separators and don't number;

4) Snake Eyes' ASL was transcribed directly (I usually paraphrase him);

5) Storm is addicted to mocha lattes – I usually write him as a lactose intolerant very healthy eater who wouldn't touch a sugared caffeinated drink with a ten foot pole even if it didn't have dairy milk in it;

6) Flames!Tommy doesn't snark. For his battle in chapter 12, other than the few sentences at the end, he doesn't even TALK. That was almost painful… I kept having to rein myself in and rewrite his lines. I even wrote a couple of "should have said" scenes, then I got Oliaf and Lily to snark a little, just to release pressure.

And finally, things I indulged in:

1) Magic. I like magic, but GI Joe doesn't really lend itself to it… Zelda does, but I write a lot more stuff for GI Joe lately;

2) Flashbacks: especially in chapter 2 and 8. Flashbacks within flashbacks. Fun. :D

3) Drama, oh the drama. I drift into melodrama VERY easily, and usually have to control myself. Not with this story. MUWAHAHA!

So… why did I do this?

I noticed many, many stories here that were what I call name dropping. I'm far from a canon nazi, I write AU myself, but I get very irritated when the characters aren't there – even more so if they have clones named after them and are only playing supporting role to a super cool gorgeous original female character.

That's the other thing that spurred this: the Mary Sues. They're normal, I'm pretty sure most writers have written them early on (I sure have, though by what I now see as a lucky set of circumstances, very little of it was ever posted anywhere). They're that super cool character you like to identify to, but they're the only attraction to the detriment of everything else; they make the story very predictable and weaken any plot; and they're all the same as many, many others before them – there are only a few basic molds. Go read the Mary Sue litmus test - you don't even have to take it – and you'll see that all those cool things about any given Mary Sue character are actually complete clichés, and easy ones at that.

Now, name dropping and the presence of a Mary Sue (or two, or more) has absolutely zilch to do with the quality of the writing style. Some of the stories that inspired me to start this experiment are written just fine as far as form goes. That fact actually only added to my frustration: here was a bunch of promising writers, making a very normal and common mistake, and the vast majority of the feedback they were getting was that they were doing great and that their Mary Sue was uber cool and awesome. And why wouldn't they believe it when they could read other stories with the very same flaws, and see those stories get the very same ultra positive feedback?

So, I wanted to find out: how bad did the Mary Sues have to get and how remote from GI Joe did the story have to be, before it got called out? My other motivation was that it sounded like fun.

Now that you know (and knowing is half the battle! Sorry, couldn't resist), what were the findings?

Initial reviews notwithstanding, the closest Esuma got to being called out was comments on the fact her eyes and hair were unusual – they were effectively deflected by simply claiming I had a reason (I did, she was a Mary Sue). The one exception was a fan from the cartoon section who took great offense at her Sueness and who I ended up frustrating a lot by refusing to textually admit Esuma was a Mary Sue. I felt I couldn't do that and risk being quoted or… well, basically, it would have been too out of character, so I compromised by not denying it either. The absence of denial went unnoticed.

On OOC-ness, Storm got away with EVERYTHING. That's actually a bit depressing. The closest he got to being called out was the comment he wouldn't be a gym teacher because he's a ninja. It's a bit ironic because I actually disagree. It's a cover, a disguise… something ninja were indeed famous for. It's debatable whether movie Storm would have chosen this particular cover, but I don't think his being a ninja makes it impossible. The exception was the same person from the cartoon category who, at that point, I believe was just pulling her hair at all the stuff I was doing wrong. Sorry, I do hope it grew back okay.

Snake Eyes got called out once BEFORE I really kicked him into overdrive (obviously, since I only started that in chapter 11), which was actually kind of funny, especially considering he doesn't get to show much personality in the movie. Exception mentioned above stands again.

GI Joe falling by the wayside was not commented on at all, although someone did request I include Duke.

Two people commented they weren't really into magic, although one went on to say they still liked the story. On the other hand, two people removed the story from their favorites when Esuma turned out to be an elf princess.

All in all, it was fun but not very instructive. I can't even conclude magic is a deal breaker because it was still only a minority of readers who reacted negatively. On the other hand, traffic was low for chapter 12, but I don't know whether it's because people didn't want to read or because they didn't notice the updates – a lot of stories updated the same day and the following day.

For clarification… no, I don't think anyone who liked the story is stupid or has no taste. I tried hard to make it fun, despite its flaws, because the flaws I engineered were the only ones I wanted in there so as not to trump the experiment. If you enjoyed it, I'm very glad and flattered.

I also don't think anyone who writes SE/MarySue or SS/MarySue or anyone/MarySue stories is automatically a bad writer. I personally don't enjoy these stories because I've read them too often already (here and in other fandoms, it really makes no difference), and I think many of you could do better precisely because I think you're actually decent writers.

Some of you may have already guessed from the list of things I did to mask my scent or just to indulge, but I'm assuming most of you don't actually know me, so allow me to introduce myself. My usual pen name is Karama9, and I mostly write in the cartoon category for GI Joe. You can check out my stories there for proof that I'm far from perfect and that I'm not kidding when I say I have a taste for drama.

Those of you who've had interactions with me as NinjaMagik, I did my best to be honest in all my dealings with everyone, short of revealing my other pen name. For example, if you called Esuma a Mary Sue, I didn't tell you that you were wrong, even though I didn't tell you that you were right either so as not to give away the game. There is one exception that I won't note here, and in that case, I was trying to express a concern without making a big drama… if you recognize yourself and want to talk, you can PM me.

There is also the case of that reviewer from the cartoon category… in this case, I stayed away or dodged the issues that really were issues or gave my standard answers (namely that I had a good reason for Esuma's colouring… which I did, as explained above). I won't detail the rest of the exchanges here; again, the person concerned can PM me if she wants to.

I had two accomplices on this from the start who helped me a lot by brainstorming with me and tossing ideas back and forth, but I'll let them identify themselves in the reviews if they feel like it. One more person was let in on the 'secret' a few chapters in and a fourth one near the end – same thing, they can identify themselves in the reviews if they wish.

Now, I'm going to be mean and state right up front that I'm not likely to believe anyone who reacts to this by saying they knew all along. I've repeatedly invited readers to PM me if they wanted to comment on the story but, for whatever reason, didn't want to leave a review, and nobody ever contacted me to so much as ask me whether any particular part of the story was serious or to express any kind of suspicion.

My apologies to anyone who is disappointed by this ending early. I hope you enjoyed what was there and that this epilogue leaves you more amused than angry.

* * *

**Should have Said's!**

Poor Tommy in this story was constantly being kept in check in terms of snarking and generally being a smart ass. It seemed only fair to gather a few 'should-have-said' comments for posterity.

_**Chapter 6:**_

Scene 1: as it was

_[Storm Shadow] felt the presence just in time to dive to the side and dodge the tip of a broom handle that had been headed straight at the base of his neck and would have knocked him out instantly. He turned to face his opponent and opened his mouth to try and talk to him, but Snake Eyes was on top of him in a second, attacking him with a viciousness he'd never seen him display before._

"_Wait!"_

_Storm Shadow jumped backwards to avoid a swipe at his legs._

"_Hold on!"_

_Snake Eyes tried to stab him in the gut with the handle of his broom, but Storm Shadow twisted and dodged. Snake Eyes frowned, annoyed: it was just his luck that Storm Shadow had finally learned to devote some energy to dodging when fighting._

"_Look, I'm NOT here for Hawk!" Storm Shadow finished, grabbing the broom handle._

Scene 1: Storm Shadow-ified.

_[Storm Shadow] felt the presence just in time to dive to the side and dodge the tip of a broom handle that had been headed straight at the base of his neck and would have knocked him out instantly He turned to face his opponent and chuckled: Snake Eyes was the attacker, but dressed as a custodian…which at least explained the broom._

"_I don't suppose you want to talk this over?" he asked, jumping backwards to avoid a swipe at his legs._

_Snake Eyes twitched at the bad joke regarding his vow of silence and tried to stab him in the gut with the handle of his broom, but Storm Shadow twisted and dodged. Snake Eyes frowned, annoyed: it was just his luck that Storm Shadow had finally learned to devote some energy to dodging when fighting._

"_Brother, think it through…I've been here for days and they're both fine. I'm not THAT incompetent. Just very, very unlucky…that should not be a surprise, look at the brother I ended up with… why, he hasn't talked to me in his years! Won't even say 'hello' back!"_

_**Chapter 7**_

Scene 2, As it is:

"_Oh, come off it," Cartwell said. "She looks gorgeous tonight and you just don't want to admit you're not downright blind."_

_The MC started talking then, and Storm Shadow did not get a chance to answer, which he didn't mind all that much: he couldn't really think of much of a response other than telling the other two men to lay off his girlfriend, and that was of course out of the question._

Scene 2, fixed:

"_Oh, come off it," Cartwell said. "She looks gorgeous tonight and you just don't want to admit you're not downright blind."_

"_I'm not blind, but I seem to have lost a couple of years worth of memory. You won't believe this, but up until you made that comment, I was convinced this was my first year here, and that she was still over a year away from being legally major. Knowing you wouldn't be such a pervert as to actually express this kind of physical attraction for a minor, I'm forced to revise this conviction. Do you know a good psychiatrist that may be able to help me fight this tragic amnesia?"_

_The MC cut off Cartwell's reply._

_**Chapter 11**_

Scene 3, as it is

_From the corner of his eyes, Storm Shadow saw a flurry of people rushing away from the school and the Monster. Unnoticed by most, two figures stayed behind and joined him in front of the mechanical beast._

"_A… panda?" Snake Eyes asked, eyes wide. "But… they're Chinese!"_

"_As if we needed further proof that the Soft Master is an imposter," Storm Shadow remarked grimly._

Scene 3, fixed

_From the corner of his eyes, Storm Shadow saw a flurry of people rushing away from the school and the latest monster of the day. Unnoticed by most, two figures stayed behind and joined him in front of the mechanical beast._

"_A… panda?" Snake Eyes asked, eyes wide. "But… they're Chinese!"_

_Storm Shadow sagged a bit. _

"_You go explain that to the thing, Snake Eyes. See if it'd be kind enough to blink out of existence out of sheer embarrassment. I can't believe we didn't think of trying that for all the other non-Japanese monsters we've been fighting. That bug summoning monster, for instance, or the giant moose, or…"_

Of course, that's cheating, because Snake Eyes wouldn't make the comment in the first place – he wouldn't talk, for one thing, and he wouldn't react to a panda not being Japanese when nothing else they fought was, either.

Scene 3, fixed again

_From the corner of his eyes, Storm Shadow saw a flurry of people rushing away from the school and the latest monster of the day. Unnoticed by most, two figures stayed behind and joined him in front of the mechanical beast._

Not taking his eyes from the beast, Snake Eyes signed to Storm Shadow that he owed him twenty dollars.

"Nuh-uh," Storm Shadow replied. "You bet the next one would be a robot; I bet it'd be an animal. We both win."

Snake Eyes rolled his eyes, but settling the bet would have to wait: what he felt was a robot and just happened to LOOK like a panda was charging an attack.

**_Chapter 8_**

This one is more of a missing scene than a fixed one.

Scene 4, As it is

_[Snake Eyes] turned to Storm Shadow next and, much to his sword brother's shock, kneeled._

"_What are you doing?" Storm Shadow asked, edging away as though Snake Eyes had gone insane and might do anything._

"_Taking a new oath," Snake Eyes replied, keeping his eyes low. "I hereby swear loyalty to my clan Master, the rightful Heir of the Arashikage."_

Scene 4, extended

_[Snake Eyes] turned to Storm Shadow next and, much to his sword brother's shock, kneeled._

"_What are you doing?" Storm Shadow asked, edging away as though Snake Eyes had gone insane and might do anything._

"_Taking a new oath," Snake Eyes replied, keeping his eyes low. "I hereby swear loyalty to my clan Master, the rightful Heir of the Arashikage."_

_Storm Shadow's eyes widened briefly, and he smirked as he relaxed again, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Really? That's wonderful! I was just thinking I'd LOVE a fresh fruit salad right now. The supermarket on the next block has nice ones."_

_Snake Eyes blinked at him._

"_What?" Storm Shadow continued, the smirk disappearing to be replaced by a mock pout. "Oh, so that oath of loyalty doesn't extend to preventing my starving, is that it?"_

In fact, most every scene from that point on with Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes could easily include Tommy happily tormenting Snake Eyes with that oath, because as much as Storm Shadow would never actually use it to force Snake Eyes to do something significant against his will, he would just NEVER get tired of abusing it with silly requests. Of course, that's cheating again: Snake Eyes should have known better than to make that oath.


End file.
